Choix
by Davner
Summary: People are the slaves of their choices, and while the consequences of Urd's choices prove to be merely annoying, the consequences of Peorth and her lost lover's choices could change Creation forever. The sequel to "Amants."
1. You Give Love a Bad Name

Disclaimer and Foreword: AMG doesn't belong to me. "Choix" is a continuation of the story begun in "Amants," so if you haven't read that yet, you should go there first or you're going to be lost. Special thanks go to WillZ and Sethra, my prereaders, as well as Exp.626.Fan as our conversations helped inspire me to write this.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 1**_

_**You Give Love A Bad Name  
**_

* * *

**"We live**

**And we pray**

**Pour les fleurs du mal**

**I've lost my way**

**What is done will return again**

**Will I ever be free?"**

_ Sarah Brightman_

"_Fleurs Du Mal"_

* * *

"Hey, Keiichi, I'll trade you."

Walking ahead of her, Keiichi Morisato turned his head and gave Urd a "yeah, whatever," look before hefting his two shopping bags and continuing on. The sun was just starting to go down, and Urd sighed in defeat as she hefted her own bags and continued.

"It's not fair!" she complained to his back.

"It's one hundred percent fair!" he shot back. "Belldandy asks me to get ice cream for Skuld, so I'm carrying that. You're the one that wanted six bottles of sake, so you get to carry that!"

"But they're heavy!" she whined, adding a calculated lip-quiver in hopes that it might sway him.

"Who needs six bottles of sake anyway?!" he asked her. "Besides, we're almost home."

That was true. The temple was already in sight. Resigning herself to her task, Urd carried on. It was all Belldandy's fault anyway. She was the one that insisted Keiichi go get ice cream, just like she was the one that pointed out Urd was out of booze.

Yeah, Belldandy's fault. That's the ticket.

As they climbed the steps, Urd made one more attempt, more on principle than anything else.

"Keiichi," she whined.

"Don't care!" he insisted.

"Hmmph!" Urd snorted. "Ever since Belldandy started giving you the goods, you've been growing a spine!"

That got a reaction out of him. He jumped and turned to her. "What do you know about it?!" he asked.

Urd grinned evilly. "Only what she writes in her diary..."

He blushed beet red. "Oh? So... What does it say?"

The Norn held her bags out to him. "Trade ya," she said.

888

Belldandy watched as the back door opened and Urd strolled in, talking over her shoulder at someone.

"... so, overall, a disappointing experience that definitely wasn't worth the wait and didn't even come close to the hype," she finished. A moment later, Keiichi, hauling bags of ice cream, sake and a good helping of his own humiliation and despair, shuffled in, tears running down his face.

"Keiichi!" Belldandy cried at his condition. "What's happened!?"

Urd grinned as she walked down the hall. "Just telling him about what you've been writing in your diary," she explained.

Belldandy blinked as she took two of the bags from Keiichi's hands. "But I don't keep a diary," she noted in bewilderment.

Keiichi dropped the bags and glared at the elder sister as she walked toward the living room.

"Urd!" he growled.

The goddess put her finger to her lips in thought. "That must have been someone else's diary..."

Keiichi rubbed his temples in frustration. "I swear, Urd, if it wasn't your birthday..."

Urd's eyes went wide. "What do you know about it?!" she cried.

It was the mortal's turn to smile. "Only what Belldandy tells me."

At that moment, the door to the living room slid open, and a crowd of people started cheering.

"SURPRISE!"

Urd slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I can't believe I fell for the, 'go get Skuld some ice cream,' charade."

The well-wishers descended on her, pushing a bottle of sake into her hand. Belldandy placed a pointed, red hat on her head. She sighed and looked at her.

"Your idea?"

Belldandy only smiled.

"So how old are you, Urd?" Megumi asked, pouring a shot for Keiichi.

Urd straightened proudly and haughtily proclaimed, "I'm twenty-four!"

Belldandy blinked. "But Neesan, you're..."

"I'm _twenty-four!_" Urd growled at her.

Someone turned on Keiichi's ancient stereo, and Belldandy went into the kitchen to remove the cake from the refrigerator. The mortal boy followed her, glad to be away from the crowd in their living room for a moment.

Belldandy placed the sheet cake on the counter and used a spatula to even out some of the frosting. Seeing his chance, Keiichi crept up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, giving them a gentle rub.

The goddess was having none of it, however. She turned and swatted him gently with the spatula, leaving a spot of frosting on his cheek. "Bad!" she chastised him with a smile. "None of that."

"I wasn't doing anything," he defended.

"No?" she asked. "Truly?"

"Really," he insisted.

"Oh," she said, turning back to the cake. "My mistake then. Gomen."

He stepped to the counter beside her as she made a few more adjustments to the cake. "You know..." he finally continued. "Unless I was _supposed_ to be doing something..."

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently, turning to him, and casually licking a bit of frosting from her fingertips.

Keiichi took a deep breath at the sight and wondered briefly how she'd react if he took her hand and got the rest of the frosting for her...

Something about the way she smiled at him told him he was on the right track, but he was determined to hold his own in this battle of wills. A month had passed since Epiphany had showed them their innermost thoughts and feelings, and Keiichi had to grudgingly agree that Peorth had been right when she said she was giving him a great gift. Ever since then, the love he and Belldandy shared was more than an unrequited attraction, it had become a comfortable feeling they both soaked in like a warm bath. Two months ago, the sight of Belldandy flirting with him so blatantly would have caused blushing, nose bleeds and perhaps fainting. Today it thrilled him, made him feel special in a way he couldn't readily describe.

_Screw it,_ he thought, taking her hand and gently licking the last bit of frosting from her finger.

The goddess turned a deep scarlet and felt a thrill run through her. A month ago, Keiichi never would have... But that was the point of Epiphany, wasn't it? To get them past such hesitancy.

Belldandy had always loved him, of course, but could sense his hesitancy. Thinking it was a deficiency in her, she waited patiently. After all, it was not unusual for courtships in Heaven to last decades. She had time. Mortals, however, did not, and once those walls had finally come down, their relationship had accelerated quickly. The flame that burns fastest, burns brightest. It was almost scary sometimes how quickly and completely their relationship was progressing, and she made a note to thank Peorth the next time she saw her.

_Oh, Keiichi,_ she thought. _If I had known then that you were just shy, I would have locked us in a room together and made you talk to me until everything was out in the open. I honestly thought it was just me..._

She rallied and stepped closer. "Gomen, Keiichi, you have frosting on your lip." Before the boy could react, she was kissing him.

The door slid open, and Urd stood there with a near-empty bottle of sake. "Hey, you two! What is this? Seven Minutes in Heaven?"

Belldandy and Keiichi parted as if electrocuted.

"Ha!" Urd cried. "Busted!" Seeing their discomfiture, the already tipsy love goddess decided to tease them a bit. "Besides, it's _my_ birthday. Shouldn't the birthday girl get a smooch?" She puckered her lips at Keiichi.

The lightbulb over the sink burst into tiny pieces of glass.

Urd grinned and turned to Belldandy. "I was only kidding," she assured her sister. She turned back to Keiichi. "Oi, Keiichi, Megumi is accusing you of having thirty Phil Collins CDs hidden somewhere in your room. She and the Auto Club are ransacking it..."

"Oh, Jeez!" he cried, bolting out the door and down the hall.

Urd watched him go and shook her head before turning back to Belldandy. "Helluva guy you got there, Belldandy."

"Hai," she replied. "Neesan..."

"Look, I was just teasing, okay?" Urd interrupted. "Besides, if I'm right, he's officially off the market now..."

"No, Neesan, not that," Belldandy told her. "I just wanted to say thank you."

Urd blinked. "For what?"

Belldandy smiled. "I know you never took credit for it, but you did help with the mental transceivers that made our epiphany possible. I never really thanked you for that."

The older Norn smiled. "Yes, you did," she replied. At Belldandy's questioning look, she went on. "I have never seen you as happy as I have this past month. Love suits you, Belldandy. It looks good on you."

"Hai," she agreed. "I am happy. I mean, I always knew what love was academically... but to be so deep in it." She closed her eyes and smiled. "And please, don't let me forget to thank Peorth as well. After she lost Wynn san, it didn't seem to be the right time so..."

"Don't worry," Urd told her. "She knows."

"Have you heard from her?" Belldandy asked.

"Chatted with her a couple of times on HIM," Urd told her, taking one last swig from the sake bottle and tossing it in the garbage. "She's back at work, trying to keep busy."

"I feel so awful for her," Belldandy said. "I can't imagine what it would be like if Keiichi died."

Urd arched an eyebrow. "Little sister, that's not the half of it," she said. "Wynn didn't just die. If he had _just_ died, it would have been easier. But he didn't. They corrupted him, stole his soul. They took him from her a piece at a time."

Belldandy swallowed nervously. She couldn't even contemplate such a thing. She didn't want to.

Besides, this was a party. Putting on a smile, she hefted the cake off the counter. "I'm sorry, but I don't think one thousand candles will fit on this," she conceded.

Urd narrowed her eyes. "I'm twenty-four..."

888

The young man cowered before her, scooting on his butt into the far corner of the room. She looked down at him and sighed. You would think after a millennia of this they would have tweaked their approach, perhaps instead of just appearing in the room, they could show up outside their house and knock politely.

Instead, Peorth now had to... once again... convince a mortal scared out of his mind that she wasn't here to abduct him or probe his anus for some extraterrestrial science experiment.

"Who are you?" the young man asked. He reminded her a lot of Keiichi. Similar age and build, though this one was blond with blue eyes and a pair of glasses that screamed "chess club."

"I am the goddess Peorth," she told him, her voice bored and business-like. "I've come to grant your fondest wish."

After that things proceeded as they always did. He argued, accused her of being a joke/trick/hallucination, and she calmly explained that she was none of those things. This usually took awhile, but when the client finally accepted what she was, the real business started.

"I can wish for anything?" he asked.

"Oui," she confirmed.

"Um... Can I have a minute to think?"

She nodded her head in an affirmative and casually looked around his room. Peorth prided herself on a keen eye, using it to learn about her young client. Her gaze fell upon a bookshelf with several dust-covered books and one that had obviously been read recently. She pulled it off the shelf and opened it, finding it to be a high school yearbook. One page had been dog-eared several times, and a picture of the academic team adorned it. Her client was standing next to an attractive brunette.

The picture told her everything, not just what the camera had caught but the condition. The page was turned to often, and while fingerprints could be seen all over the page, the area around the young woman was pristine. She could tell he gazed at this picture often and knew what his wish should be.

"I'm... I'm not really sure," he admitted.

"Wish what's in your heart," she said simply, closing the book.

"I guess... I'd like a million dollars!"

Peorth sighed inside. Most young men were hesitant when making a wish with her, particularly when it involved matters of the heart. After all, he was a nerd and she was, ostensibly, a beautiful woman. Reluctance was natural, and this was the point when Peorth would usually berate the young man, hold the book under his nose and tell him point-blank what they both already knew to be true.

But she just couldn't summon the drive this time. Her sigil glowed, and a bolt of light flew from her forehead up through the ceiling and into the night sky. A moment later, the light faded, and she faced him again.

"Your wish has been granted," she said simply. "The money has been deposited in your bank account. Enjoy it." With that, she started for the camera through which she had entered.

"Oh, okay," he said, sounding almost let down, as if he knew he had blown an opportunity.

Peorth couldn't bring herself to care. She stepped through the camera...

And back into the offices of the Earth Help Center. Pausing next to the hardline crystal that allowed the goddesses to venture to and from the Earth realm, she knelt over a crystal table and signed in. Dropping the pen on the table, she started for her desk, walking past several goddesses who were working the help center's phones.

Before she could reach her phone, a voice from overhead stopped her.

"Peorth, I'd like a moment with you."

The goddess looked up and found the blue eyes of Freya gazing down at her from the second floor walkway where the administration offices were. The blonde goddess gestured to her office and walked into it, waiting for Peorth to come to her.

The younger goddess sighed and floated up to the next level, landing nimbly on her feet and following the Earth Help Center administrator into her office.

"Please, have a seat," Freya told her, taking her own seat behind a white marble desk. Peorth sat and waited patiently for her boss to begin. She wasn't one hundred percent sure what she wanted, and really didn't care one way or the other.

"Case seven-oh-seven-three-six has been closed out," Freya nodded. She checked her watch. "In record time for you."

"He knew what he wanted," Peorth told her, half lying, half not.

"Indeed," Freya told her. She took a breath and regarded her young granter. "Just like the two cases last week. I have to say I'm a little disturbed at this new trend in you."

"Their wishes have been granted," Peorth told her. "That's my job."

"Your job is to make people happy," Freya told her. "Wishes are a means to that end. If that end is not reached, the granting of wishes becomes irrelevant. You understand that. I've seen you take weeks to ascertain a person's true wish. You took pride in it."

Peorth felt a flash of guilt. Her boss was right about that. She had taken a great deal of pride in her work, and by rushing through those cases she had done those mortals a great disservice.

Freya looked at her in concern. "Frigga told me you might not be ready to return to work just yet," she confided in her. Peorth looked up in surprise. "I'm inclined to agree. You should take some more time."

"I don't want more time," Peorth told her sadly. "I want things to be the way they were."

"I understand that," Freya told her. "But you're still healing, and as you are now you are simply not suited for this job." Peorth looked up at her in panic. "No, I'm not dismissing you," the elder goddess continued. "But I can't have you on the line either. And since you will not willingly take time off, I must give you some other task for which you are more suited."

"Such as?"

Freya jotted down information on a light pad and handed it to her. "A feedback," she said. "For purposes of market research."

Peorth looked down at the note. A five numeral number was printed there, a familiar number.

"Morisato?" she asked.

"Yes," Freya continued. "He is the only mortal to receive wishes from both us and the Goddess Help Line. As such, he is in a unique position to provide a direct comparison of our services. Go there, conduct a thorough feedback and write up a case study."

Peorth lowered the pad. "Busy work," she concluded.

"Back shop," Freya corrected. "Nothing too strenuous. I want you to take it easy. Wounds of the heart are notoriously difficult to heal. I don't want to see this one cripple you."

"Oui, Madame," Peorth whispered, acquiescing. "Will there be anything else?"

"No," Freya replied. "Peorth, you are like a daughter to me, all of you girls are. It eats at my heart to see you like this. Please know that this isn't punishment. I want you to heal. I want you to smile again." She became all business again. "Now go. And try not to work too hard."

"Oui." Peorth rose and walked out of the office.

888

Keiichi woke when he felt Belldandy squeeze him, her arms wrapped around him from behind as she spooned against him. It was something he'd come to recognize with her. Her sense of possessiveness seemed to permeate her dreams.

He glanced at the clock radio nearby and yawned. A moment later, his yawn was echoed by the goddess behind him.

"Oh my!" she said. "I overslept! I need to make breakfast!"

The mortal boy patted her hand. "I got it," he told her.

"Eh?" She watched as Keiichi climbed to his feet and threw on a t-shirt.

"I'll do it," he told her. "You sleep in."

"You're going to cook?" she asked, looking up at him with well-meaning, but skeptical, eyes.

"I can cook!" he defended. "I've done it before." Of course, that was back when he had Belldandy's vast memories and experience to draw on.

"And how much do you remember?" she asked coyly.

He paused uncomfortably. "Enough," he assured her. "What would you like?"

_He's trying to do something nice for you,_ her mind chastised her. _Let him!_

She smiled and took pity on him. "Just miso soup," she said.

Keiichi nodded. "Okay, miso it is." He turned to go.

"Keiichi san,"

He turned back and saw her smiling, the act lighting up the room.

"Hurry back," she requested.

He hurried, moving down the hall as quietly as he could. While he and Belldandy had turned in early last night, from the sounds they had heard, he knew the party had continued long into the night and was sure there were still members of the Auto Club around who had chosen to crash here rather than drive home drunk.

Before he could get to the kitchen, he heard a soft knock at the front door. Figuring it was one of the party-goers who had left something at the house, he opened it without a second thought. What he found standing on the other side of the door startled him.

"Mr. Morisato!" Frigga cried, reaching forward to hug him. "It's so good to see you again."

"Ms. Frigga!" he replied stupidly. "It's... How are you?"

"Good, good," she replied, walking past him into the hall.

"Um... Hello."

Turning back to the front door, Keiichi was surprised to see a man standing there. He stood a head taller than the college student with shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes hidden behind a pair of blue-tinted spectacles. White robes with red trim hung shabbily from his shoulders as if the clothing was meant to look regal but he just didn't have time to bother adjusting it enough to hang just right.

"I'm sorry, come on in," Keiichi told him.

The young god gave him a short bow and a smile and stepped inside. Keiichi rushed to catch up with Frigga, who was zipping through the house in search of something.

"If you're looking for Belldandy..." he began, wondering how he was going to finish that sentence without including the words, 'in my room.'

"No," Frigga said, trailing off as she glanced into the kitchen. "I'm actually looking for... OH, ALMIGHTY BEST AND GREATEST!" she screeched as Tamiya's large frame lumbered into view from the direction of the living room.

The reason for Frigga's startlement became apparent to Keiichi as he glanced at the man. "Oh, God! Senpai! Where are your pants?!"

Tamiya blinked several times, obviously still more than a little drunk. The Auto Club president was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of tighty-whities. "Not shur, Morishato," he slurred. "Losht them..."

Frigga blinked in utter horror and shock.

Keiichi just shook his head in puzzlement. "Lost them? Lost them how? How do you lose _pants!?_"

This question was answered a moment later when they heard Urd call out from the next room.

"URD, QUEEN OF ALL PANTS, DEMANDS ASPIRIN FOR HER HANGOVER!"

Keiichi smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand and growled. "Urd..."

A light of understanding seemed to click on behind Frigga's eyes, though she also appeared to wish it hadn't. The other god seemed simply confused by the whole thing.

"I see," Frigga said. "Well... I suppose it's to be expected."

They entered the living room and found Urd lounging in the middle of the room, a pair of pants worn on her head like a crown or a jester's hat and passed out party-goers snoring around the room.

Frigga took a deep, embarrassed breath. "Urd, honey," she began.

Urd looked up and pulled the pants off her head. "Oh, hi Frigga!" she greeted, climbing to her feet.

"I'm not going to ask why you're surrounded by several pantsless men and women," Frigga said. "I'm just going to assume you had... some... kind of good reason."

Urd stumbled a bit before answering. "It turns out I'm freaking _awesome_ at strip poker," she told her stepmother.

"That's wonderful, dear," Frigga said, just trying desperately to wrap this part of the conversation up. She took a breath and put on a smile, taking the Norn by the shoulders. "Happy birthday, Urd."

The step-daughter winked. "I'm a thousand!" she whispered excitedly. "Shhhh... They think I'm twenty-four!" She giggled.

"Yes, honey, I know," Frigga told her. "And because you're a thousand, this is a very special day for you. And to commemorate it, I present to you the god, Nyd." She gestured to the god standing nervously nearby.

Urd arched an eyebrow. "You got me a stripper?" she asked Frigga. The older goddess turned crimson, mortified at the statement as Urd went on. "Well... the party's over and it's really not the same without a room full of drunk college girls, but what the hell, let's give it a whirl!"

"Urd, you..."

"Belldandy!" Urd called down the hallway, ignoring her stepmother's look of horror. "Do you want a lap dance!?"

The god, Nyd, turned scarlet, humiliated, as Urd went on. Finally Frigga grabbed her by the ear and twisted.

"AIIII! Frigga! What the..."

"Be silent and sober up for ten seconds!" Frigga hissed at her. "This god is no exotic performer, he's to be your damned husband!"

The room went silent. Frigga took a breath and smiled again.

"Congratulations!"

888

Belldandy was having the weirdest dream.

Since Keiichi had been so kind to offer to make breakfast while she snoozed, she had closed her eyes after he left and drifted in and out of sleep. In her dream, she first heard her mother call out for The Almighty... Then, Keiichi was searching for somebody's pants...

But to get them, he had trade the Queen of Pants a couple of Tylenol...

Then Neesan had asked if she wanted someone to dance on her lap, which was just plain confusing...

And that's when the shouting started.

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of intense arguing coming from down the hall. Throwing on her blue silk robe, she opened the bedroom door and rushed into the living room where Keiichi and a strange man were standing outside the door to Urd's bedroom.

"Keiichi?!" she asked, making an effort to close her robe more tightly as the strange man... no, a god... turned to her. "What's going on? Who is this god?"

As he opened his mouth to reply, the shouting in the other room kicked up a level in volume.

"I CANNOT _BELIEVE_ YOU WOULD THINK FOR _ONE SECOND_ THAT I WOULD GO ALONG WITH THIS!" Urd was screaming.

"Who is Urd arguing with?" Belldandy asked.

The mortal once again started to answer, but was cut off as Frigga shouted back.

"'GO ALONG WITH THIS?!' YOU SHOULD BE ON YOUR KNEES THANKING ME FOR FINDING YOU SOMEONE EVEN REMOTELY WILLING TO ENDURE YOUR SELFISH NONSENSE!"

"Oh, it's Moder," Belldandy concluded happily.

"Yeah," Keiichi finally got a word in. "And this is... I'm sorry... 'Nidd?'"

"Nyd," the god corrected, bowing to Belldandy. "It's nice to meet you. And... I am so sorry. Lady Frigga told me that I... Well... That I was expected."

"Expected for what?" Belldandy asked.

"YOU WALTZ INTO OUR HOUSE WITH SOME STRANGE GOD IN TOW AND JUST EXPECT ME TO RUN TO THE ALTAR WITH HIM! HILD'S LEFT TIT, MAYBE HE SHOULD CHECK MY TEETH FIRST!" Urd screamed from the other room.

"'Altar?'" Belldandy asked, blinking. Her eyes narrowed. "Oh, please tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"YOU ARE A GODDESS IN _MY_ HOUSEHOLD, MAKING YOU _MY_ RESPONSIBILITY! PERHAPS YOU SHOULD HAVE CONSIDERED ALL OF THAT BEFORE GOING A THOUSAND YEARS WITHOUT MAKING _ANY_ PREPARATIONS FOR THIS WHATSOEVER!" Frigga screamed back.

"Isn't what you think _what_ is?" Keiichi asked, still genuinely confused.

Belldandy sighed, but couldn't help but be amused. "Yesterday was Urd's one thousandth birthday," she told him. "Traditionally it's a very special day for a goddess, and in our distant history even more so. You see, according to tradition, if a goddess hasn't married, or isn't expected to marry, by her thousandth birthday, it falls to the female head of the household to find her a husband."

"An arranged marriage?" Keiichi asked in shock.

Belldandy nodded. "It's fallen out of favor over the last millennium, but many of the elder gods' households still practice it. Our house is one of the most ancient, unbroken lines, so this really isn't surprising."

"Except to Urd," Keiichi finished.

The middle Norn nodded again, her face pinched with concern. "She's never really thought of herself as part of the house, part of the family yes, but never really part of the official household. Which was foolish, because Moder has always gone out of her way to include Urd."

Keiichi nodded. "So Ms. Frigga is surprised because Urd is surprised and Urd is surprised because she never thought Ms. Frigga would do this?"

"WHILE YOU'RE AT IT LET'S SELL SKULD TO GYPSIES!" Urd was screaming. "MAYBE WE CAN HAVE BELLDANDY TURN TRICKS OUT ON THE STREET CORNER!"

This statement was followed by the sound of a hand striking flesh. Belldandy recoiled at the sound, knowing that Frigga had probably just laid Urd out. Her mother was a very gentle, kind goddess, but there were lines you just didn't cross with her, and Urd had just crossed them, planted dynamite on them and blew them up.

888

The godly queen looked down at her step-daughter, who was sitting on her butt with her hand on her cheek, now reddening from the force of her slap.

"ENOUGH!" Frigga replied. "ENOUGH OF YOUR ETERNAL SELFISH CATERWAULING! YOU _CHOSE_ TO BE A GODDESS! YOU _CHOSE_ TO LIVE IN HEAVEN! YOU DO NOT GET TO BENEFIT FROM THOSE CHOICES WITHOUT LIVING UP TO THE RESPONSIBILITIES THAT COME WITH THEM!"

There was a long pause before Urd replied. "I will not whore myself to some strange god for your political connections," she bit out.

Frigga laughed incredulously. "Is that what you think this is?! Have I _ever_ tried to make use of you for the benefit of our family? You overestimate yourself! For nine hundred years you've done everything possible to make yourself the black sheep in Heaven! There is no political value in marrying you off _whatsoever_! If Eir was not such a good friend to me, she would _never_ have considered you even _close _to being worthy of her only son! You are not doing _anyone_ a favor, Urd! Eir is _taking pity on me_ by agreeing to this arrangement!"

Urd wasn't sure what felt worse; being whored out to the son of her stepmother's closest friend and ally or being told that she wasn't worthy of even being so.

Frigga took a breath and tried to calm down. "I didn't want it to come to this," she told Urd gently. "I never interfered with your love life, even when you brought home that...vile... hippy... lute player..." she bit out. "You are The Almighty's eldest daughter," she went on. "And with that unfortunate twist of fate comes responsibilities you haven't even begun to see."

"Do you really hate me this much?" Urd asked quietly.

"Hate you?" Frigga asked, tears in her eyes. She turned away, stunned and saddened by the question. "When you first came to Heaven, there was a lot of debate on what was to be done with you. You were the Armistice Child, the being whose conception ended the war. You couldn't just be swept under the rug. Your father considered putting you in the care of an elder teacher like Omoikane or Gwydion, where you would spend your childhood being taught how to be a goddess... and not a demon. Do you know why they did not take this route?"

Urd didn't answer. She was still too enraged by what was happening.

Frigga didn't wait for an answer anyway. "I went to The Almighty, and I _asked him_ to place you in our house," she said. "You were my husband's daughter, my childrens' sister, and that made you and me family. And I could not bear the thought of you growing up like that. I believed that you could learn more about being a goddess by growing up with Baldr, Belldandy and Skuld."

She finally turned back to her stepdaughter. "I'm doing this because I love you, Urd. You've always been my little Urd, my eldest daughter. If I ignored your birthday and its implications, what kind of mother would that make me? You hate me right now for what I'm doing, believing that I'm singling you out for punishment. The truth is I would do, and under the right circumstances _will do_, the same for Belldandy and Skuld when the time comes."

Frigga started for the door, but Urd's next statement made her pause.

"I have no choice, do I?" she asked quietly.

The queen turned back to her. "Urd, you are the only goddess in our history who's _ever_ had a choice." With that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Urd alone with her thoughts.

888

Peorth looked at the ground as she walked from the Earth Help Center toward her apartment overlooking Charity Square. She intended to leave for Earth the next morning. Right now all she wanted was a hot bath and a good dose of self-pity.

There was a low rumble of thunder overhead, and she suddenly remembered that The Almighty had promised rain today. She sighed. Of course, she had forgotten an umbrella.

She wasn't the only one either. Several other gods and goddesses began to walk a little faster, among them a couple holding an infant god close to them.

Her gaze rested on the trio for several moments as drops of water began to sting her skin. The baby god was so young its tiny wings were still visible. As the rain began to fall faster, she finally managed to break her gaze and continue on.

By the time she opened the door to her apartment and stepped inside, the goddess was drenched and lightning had begun to crash outside her window. Stepping into the bathroom, she drew a bath and undressed robotically before immersing herself in the water.

Looking up at the ceiling for a moment, she closed her eyes and her thoughts went immediately to him, watching him once again falling into The Spark as she rose away from danger.

The day she lost him forever.

"Wynn," she whispered painfully. "I never got a chance to hold your baby." She felt her chest constrict and held her breath, determined to fight off the sobs. The water in the tub splashed as she raised her hand to cover her eyes, hiding them from people who weren't even there.

Why did it still hurt so much? The first time she thought she had lost him, she had cried for months, but she eventually moved on. This time... This time was different. This time she had actually watched him die...

_I wish I had never met him..._

Her eyes shot open a moment later.

_No! I take it back!_ she quickly reined the thought in. Wishes were powerful things, and she didn't want to risk losing the only thing she had left of him, her precious memories.

She would simply have to endure.

Gathering her thoughts together, she stood up and climbed out of the tub.

888

Syrinx cried out painfully as he unexpectedly struck solid ground. The avenging angel blinked and examined his surroundings even as a multitude of questions ran through his mind. How long had he been sealed? Where was he now? Was he in the hands of friend or foe?

The answer to the last question became apparent as he looked up and saw four members of Hild's infamous Elite Guard standing over him with weapons drawn. Syrinx was pretty good in a fight, but he knew enough to know that facing four Elites while unarmed was a quick way back into a seal... if he was lucky.

One of the shadowy forms in front of him beckoned him to rise, and he did, his hands up. He had to buy time until a chance to escape presented itself. The demons bracketed him between them, two in front, two behind as they marched him down a stone hallway lit by torches. It was like something out of an old monster novella.

The hallway widened into a large, open arena. The walls circling it were several meters high. Atop these walls sat what must have been a hundred demons, cheering and brandishing weapons. Directly opposite of him, sitting on a black onyx throne, was Hild herself.

One of the Elites prodded him in the back with the shaft of his spear, and Syrinx stepped forward. It was then that he noticed he wasn't alone in the arena. A tall figure stood on the other side, beneath Hild's throne.

Hild stood and raised her hand, causing every demon in the arena to go silent.

"My demons," she called out. "Today we have a very special treat! Today, our High Inquisitor takes the first step toward our ultimate goal. And it begins... with _personal combat!_"

The demons cheered.

Syrinx looked down as one of the Elites tossed a soul saber at his feet. He looked up at Hild in disgust and called out. "I'm no performing monkey to dance for your amusement!" he called out. "I won't fight for your blood lust!"

Hild shrugged. "No problem. Stand there and die."

As if the words were a signal, the other figure leapt toward him, the red glowing blade of his rapier arcing toward him. Syrinx ducked and rolled to the right, snatching up the saber as he went and barely avoiding losing an arm as his opponent's blade struck the dirt where he had been standing.

The avenging angel bounced to his feet and turned just in time to parry another strike. He got a good look at his opponent for the first time. Scars disfigured the right side of his face, and in the place of his right eye, a blue gem glowed dully. The demon gritted his teeth and made three quick slashes that Syrinx just barely avoided. The demons in the crowd cheered.

_This guy knows his shit,_ he thought. _But I still have an advantage no demon can match..._

He leapt back and summoned his thoughts. "Angel come forth!"

His higher self, an armored angel with snow white wings named Above and Beyond, rose from his back.

In her throne, Hild smiled and watched intently.

The demon paused. "Black Jack come forth!"

Syrinx's eyes widened as something dark and hideous rose into the air above his opponent. "Almighty be merciful," he whispered.

The creature hissed at him.

"He's yours, Jack," the demon told him.

The bat-winged thing leapt forward, and Syrinx braced for the attack, but was shocked to find he wasn't the target. The creature instead crashed into his angel at full force, knocking it into the far wall.

"Beyond!" he cried. His moment of distraction cost him as the demon struck, knocking the saber out of his hands and throwing him to the ground. The demon pinned him to the floor, his blade at the avenging angel's throat.

But he stopped short, content to just keep him there.

Syrinx turned his head and saw the creature on top of Above and Beyond, slashing at his angel with red and black claws, screaming at it in an otherworldly howl. He could feel each strike against his angel reverberate through his soul, causing the avenging angel untold pain.

Suddenly, the creature leaned down and tore the angel's throat out with its teeth!

Syrinx's eyes widened as he gasped, then they closed again, and he went limp.

The demon gave it a moment, then rose to his feet, watching his opponent's chest rise and fall with his breath. Nearby, Black Jack threw his head up and howled in ecstasy as the angel below began to melt away.

The demons in the audience cheered. Hild turned to the Elite standing on her right. "Initiate the recall," she ordered. "One hundred percent contact."

She stood up and applauded while she waited for the results. The demon bowed to her as the creature merged with him again. Raising her hands, she once again quieted her followers.

"Well?" she asked.

"He's asleep," the demon told her. "Comatose."

"Excellent." She turned as the Elite approached, whispering the results to her. Smiling she turned to the demons. "The recall is complete!" she announced. "All demons are accounted for! My demons, our Inquisitor has done it! Know now that the first mile on our long road to victory is behind us! _We have defeated Doublet!_"

The demons went wild and began to cheer the Inquisitor's name as he stood stoically below them.

"_METHEUS! METHEUS! METHEUS! METHEUS!"_

Below them, the rampant god once known as Wynn, stood there and let the adulation wash over him. Inside his soul, his angel basked in the murder it had committed, the other angel's blood in its teeth.

He knew... He knew this was only the beginning.


	2. It's My Life

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG. The song Peorth sings is "Avec le Temps," a devastating love song most recently sung by Belinda Carlisle.

**Choix**

**_Chapter 2_**

**_It's My Life_**

* * *

**"Silence fills the empty grave,**

**Now that I am gone.**

**But my mind is not at rest,**

**For questions linger on.**

**I will ask,**

**And you will answer..."**

_The Gravemind_

_Halo 2_

* * *

When Frigga emerged from Urd's room, she faced a trio of concerned faces to which she simply smiled and said, "She's overcome with emotion!" before turning toward the kitchen to engage in pancake therapy.

Belldandy watched her walk off and turned to Nyd. "So... 'Nyd' was it?"

The god cleared his throat nervously and adjusted his blue-tinted glasses. "Yeah," he said. "Look, I'm really sorry..."

"It's all right," Belldandy told him with a smile. "It has nothing to do with you, really. It's between Moder and Neesan..."

Before she could finish the thought, Urd opened the bedroom door and marched angrily past them, not giving Nyd even the hint of a glance. Belldandy watched her storm off and followed her. Keiichi stayed behind.

"So," Keiichi said. "Urd, huh?"

The god laughed nervously.

888

"Neesan! Where are you going?" Belldandy asked as she followed Urd out into the backyard. The older goddess didn't answer, instead falling to her knees near a rock the size of her head and flipping it over. "Neesan?"

"I need a fresh earthworm," Urd told her. "Help me find one."

Belldandy dropped to her knees and began to look, her fingers gently moving blades of grass apart as her blue eyes scanned the ground. "Are you going fishing?" she asked, hoping to inject some levity into the situation.

"Nope!" Urd announced as she stood up, a worm gripped in her fingers. "I'm going to make a beaker of Elttuh's Serum and turn that god into a frog. Frigga can't make me marry a frog. Everyone wins."

"Um... What about Nyd san? It doesn't sound like he wins anything..."

"No plan is perfect," Urd told her as she turned back toward the house, only to find Belldandy blocking her way.

"Neesan..."

"Belldandy, get out of the way..."

"Neesan, wait," Belldandy begged. "Please. That god has done nothing wrong... that we know of," she amended. "Your argument is with Moder. He doesn't deserve to be attacked or even treated badly." She smiled. "You don't even know him yet..."

Urd frowned. "You can't possibly be on her side with this," she said.

"I'm not, truly!" she told her. "All I'm saying is that he is only the symptom of your frustration, not the cause."

"How could she do that to me?!" Urd suddenly cried.

A long silence followed. Urd seemed to honestly be looking for an answer. Belldandy cleared her throat and decided to offer her one.

"Because she loves you?"

"You're not helping!" Urd shot back accusingly.

"Gomen," Belldandy apologized. "But... at the very least she didn't do it because she hates you, right?"

Urd growled as even she had to admit that was true.

"So... what is her motive?"

The elder Norn came up short, waving her hands angrily in the air while desperately trying to come up with some sinister reason for it all.

"I think it's because she loves you," Belldandy finally concluded with a nod.

"Oh, please..."

"I'm serious," Belldandy said. "Why else go through the rigors and negotiations involved with a Pairing?"

"Then why didn't she tell me?!"

"Because traditionally she doesn't have to," Belldandy explained. "Moder has always taken these traditions seriously. You just never expected her to apply them to you because..."

Urd waited as her sister hesitated. "Go on."

Belldandy took a breath and continued. "Because you always assumed that Moder never saw you as part of the family," she finished.

"Dammit," Urd grumbled. "That's what she said..."

"In her own thoughts and hopes, she probably believed you would be pleased," Belldandy told her, unwittingly twisting the knife in her sister's heart.

"Is there a way out of this without turning this guy into a frog?" Urd asked in defeat.

Belldandy clapped happily. "You can get married to someone else within the next year!"

"That's not a solution," Urd told her. "That's just another form of the problem."

"He might be nice," Belldandy offered helpfully.

"He might be a date rapist!" Urd fired back.

"Would Moder really ask you to marry a date rapist?"

"Stop that!"

Urd bit her lip and gave Belldandy's statement some thought.

_Marry someone else, eh?_ She suddenly rushed past her sister back into the house.

888

"A med-muse?" Keiichi asked, blinking in confusion as he poured the god at the kitchen table another glass of orange juice. After Urd had stormed out, Keiichi had introduced himself and offered the god a drink. After all, this probably wasn't his best morning, either.

Most of the party-goers had filed out by now, instinctively realizing that things were going to start getting worse before they got better, and now Frigga, Keiichi and Nyd were alone in the house.

"Yeah," Nyd told him. "It's a form of research inspirator."

"Okay, I've heard of muses for artists and writers, but doctors?" He poured himself a glass and sat down at the table.

"Well, yeah, there are those too, but there are muses for any field that requires inspiration or resourcefulness," Nyd went on. "We're healers first, but we also go out into the mortal realms and basically point their healers in the right direction for finding cures and new vaccinations."

"Wow," Keiichi said. "So have you helped cure anything?"

Nyd shrugged. "Just polio. Recently I've been here on Earth in the really rural parts of the realm helping doctors treat patients with very little help. Places like the Congo, Burma and Angola."

"Yes, we are all very proud of our young Dr. Nyd," Frigga said as she flipped a pancake at the stove.

"So... how did you get... well... here?" Keiichi asked him.

Nyd looked a little embarrassed and unsure of what he should say next. "Well... to be honest, I've been busy..."

"Busy healing people," Frigga added, obviously proud of her catch for her stepdaughter. She placed a plate of pancakes in front of each young man and went back to the stove.

"Er... right," Nyd continued. "So I haven't really been paying attention to things like... well... time." He looked sheepish. "I only come back to Heaven every so often, and Mother would always say, 'You're almost a thousand, when are you going to start looking for a nice goddess to marry?' Well, I kept putting it off and putting it off until one day I came home from Angola and found Mother and Lady Frigga waiting for me..." He trailed off.

Keiichi nodded. "You tried to run, didn't you?" he asked.

"They're _fast _for a couple of older goddesses!" Nyd exclaimed.

They turned as they heard the door open and shut and suddenly Urd was standing in the kitchen, her nose turned upward and a look of regal indifference on her face.

"Frigga, I have something to confess," she proclaimed as Belldandy walked up behind her, curious as to what her sister would do next.

"Oh?" Frigga asked, wiping her hands on a dish rag. "Please, go on."

Urd took a deep breath. "I can't marry..." She paused, her face going blank. Finally, she just rolled with it. "...whatever his name is," she continued. "I didn't want to bring this up this way... but..." Suddenly, she grabbed Keiichi's arm and dragged him bodily up beside her. "KEIICHI AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED!"

"EEEHHHH?!" Keiichi cried.

Every light bulb in the house burst at once. Urd glanced over her shoulder and found Belldandy staring at her in complete shock.

_Sorry, Sis, but I need to borrow him, _she thought. _You can have him back as soon as I'm done with him._

"Um... Congratulations?" Nyd offered.

Urd giggled nervously as Frigga arched an eyebrow. Keiichi, meanwhile, continued to struggle.

"I have no idea what she's..."

Urd stomped on his foot, causing him to cry out in pain. She looked up and smiled. "Yes, we've been seeing each other for months! Last week, he popped the question!"

The sky outside started getting darker and the wind whipped through the trees...

Frigga crossed her arms over her chest. "I see... Then why don't you give us a smooch?"

Thunder roared over the house, and a bolt of lightning struck the clothes line outside. A dark red aura started to envelope Belldandy...

Suddenly, the door opened, and Skuld came rushing in. "Hey, are we under a tornado watch?" she asked. "Oh well, doesn't matter! You guys won't believe what an awesome morning I've had!" She blinked at the sight of Urd holding Keiichi's arm, the strange god at their table and Belldandy's otherworldly glow. "What's going on?"

Nyd raised a finger. "Urd is marrying Keiichi," he told her.

Skuld's eyes brightened. "Really?! And I don't have to pay her or anything?! It must be Christmas morning and nobody told me!" she squealed happily.

They all turned back to Urd, who was holding her hand over Keiichi's mouth while the boy struggled.

"Well?" Frigga asked. "Are you going to kiss your fiancé or not?"

The house began to rumble on its foundations.

"Come on, Urd!" Skuld shouted. "Show us what you're made of! I'm counting on you!"

Urd knew she was trapped. The only question now was how far should she go? She cleared her throat and swung the mortal around in front of her like he was a rag doll.

"Urd! What the..."

"Just shut up and take one for the team!" she growled quietly at him. She leaned toward him...

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

They all looked up and saw Belldandy fly across the room and grab Keiichi, holding him tightly as if he were about to blow away in the wind. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM! You can't! Because... because..."

They waited for her to finish. Finally, the middle Norn turned toward her sister with devastated, tear-filled eyes. "BECAUSE I SAW HIM _FIRST!_"

Urd sighed. She couldn't go through with the charade... given how stupid it was to begin with...

"So," Frigga began again. "As punishment for lying to me, you must now take our good doctor here on a date."

"Wow, I'm a punishment," Nyd sighed. "That figures..."

Urd sighed. "Fine!"

"And as punishment for attempting to steal your sister's..." she paused. "What _are_ you two now, anyway?" she asked.

Belldandy sniffled as she continued crying into Keiichi's shirt. "Keiichi is my tender lover," she sobbed. "And he's mine, and you can't have him!" she finished. Keiichi took a breath and patted her on the back consolingly.

"Right!" Frigga went on. "As punishment for attempting to steal your sister's lover, you have to take the two of them with you as part of a double date."

Urd growled. "Fine..."

Skuld leaned up and whispered in her mother's ear.

"Quite!" Frigga concluded, turning back to Urd. "For getting your youngest sister's hopes up, only to disappoint her and crush her dreams, you must bring her back a quart of ice cream!"

"Oh, come on!"

So enthralled with what was going on, no one noticed Peorth emerging from the camera sitting on the table in the next room. She entered the kitchen just as Frigga made this last announcment.

"Now you can at least introduce yourself to your husband to be!"

Urd sighed and growled, turning toward Nyd. "I'm Urd, and you're so boned..."

"I guess I missed something, non?" Peorth asked.

888

Frigga insisted on celebrating this new breakthrough by making everyone breakfast. As she and Belldandy worked in the kitchen, Peorth explained her presence.

"Another survey?" Keiichi asked with a sigh. "Come on..."

"You have to understand the unique situation in which you find yourself, cheri," Peorth explained. "You're the only mortal in our history to have received wishes from both granting agencies, which means you are the only one who can give a side-by-side comparison of our services."

"Okay, so when do you want to do this?"

Peorth smiled. "The complete survey will take about three days to complete."

"Three days?!" Keiichi cried. "Ms. Frigga's took two hours!"

"We're much more thorough in our research methods," Peorth told him.

"Fine, when do you want to start?" he sighed.

"Given everything happening here, let's put it off until tomorrow," Peorth relented.

As Frigga returned, her arms laden with dishes, she turned to Skuld. "Skuld, honey, I'm sorry. In all the excitement I nearly forgot. What was it you wanted to tell us?"

Suddenly, with every eye in the house turned to her, Skuld wasn't feeling talkative. She blushed slightly and drooped downward in her seat. "Um... I'll tell you later."

"Are you sure?" Frigga asked. Skuld only nodded nervously. "All right."

Sitting across from Nyd... by order of her stepmother... Urd glared at the god, who seemed to be putting a lot of time and effort into looking at his breakfast. Finally, she decided to try to find out just what kind of god her stepmother had saddled her with.

"So what's your story?" she asked point-blank.

Nyd looked up at her and pointed at himself with a "who, me?" look.

"Oh," he said. "Well... I'm Nyd," he said. "And I... uh... I'm a med-muse... and... well... that's pretty much it," he said with a self-deprecating laugh.

Urd arched an eyebrow.

"Guy cured polio," Keiichi offered helpfully between bites of pancake.

"Well... technically _I_ didn't cure anything," Nyd told him. "I just prompted the doctors working on it to look at things a little dif..."

"Do you do anything of your own?" Urd asked bitterly.

The god looked hurt by the question. "Well... yeah," he answered. "I mean... when I'm not inspiring mortal doctors, I'm... well... working godly medical issues... like research..." Getting more into a subject he could speak to, the nervous god started picking up steam. "For instance, one of my really big projects is a psycho-spiritual approach to the godly mind that I believe will lead to a cure to rampancy and..."

"Rampancy?!" The question followed the sound of silverware striking a plate. Everyone at the table turned to the source of the question. Peorth was staring at Nyd with wide eyes. "You have a cure for rampancy?" she demanded.

Suddenly thrust back into an uncertain spotlight, Nyd began to withdraw again. "Well... No... I mean... The research is still in... well... its infant stages and right now... we're concentrating more on... um... concrete detection methods..."

"Oh," Peorth's face fell.

Skuld snorted. "Concrete detection methods? Research? You missed the boat!" She pulled a remote control from her pocket and hit a big red button located at the front. With a loud whir, a three-foot tall robot mounted on the remains of a segway zipped into the room.

The young goddess stood and gestured to it as if presenting a great work of art. "Ladies and gentlemen," she breathed excitedly. "Oh, and Keiichi... I guess... If I must... May I present to you, the Banpei Rampant Detector XL7!"

On cue, three party poppers went off and confetti dropped from the ceiling.

The rest of the house looked at them in nervous awe.

Skuld continued on. "Based on readings I gathered during recent unpleasant events, I have created this Banpei variant to detect rampant gods and goddesses! Banpei Rampant Detector XL7, initiate demo!"

The robot rolled up to Nyd and stared at him creepily for a moment.

"The XL7 is scanning your spirit graph for anomalies," Skuld explained in a scholarly tone. The XL7 then broke its stare and moved to Frigga, who blinked and stared back at the machine. It broke off again and rolled up to Peorth.

Suddenly, the robot's finger came up, pointing at the love goddess.

"RAMPANT! RAMPANT! RAMPANT!" it buzzed. Peorth stared back at it in horrified shock.

Urd rose from her chair, marched up behind the machine and touched the back of its head, putting a bolt of electricity through it and shorting it out. It fell silent.

"Hey!" Skuld cried.

Urd turned on her like an angry cobra. "Skuld, this is a horrible little machine!" she told her angrily. "And it doesn't even work," she added almost as an afterthought. "After all, Peorth is no rampant."

"Skuld," Belldandy began quietly. "Rampancy is a very serious issue that can rock a god or goddess to their very core. Can you imagine finding out such a thing in such a crass manner?"

"I don't get it," Skuld whimpered. "It worked flawlessly during testing." Meanwhile, Peorth had put her hand to her chest, staring down at the tabletop, her face pale. "Shucks, it's too bad Mr. Wynn is gone, I could have gotten a better reading from h..."

"SKULD OF THE HOUSE OF FRIG, YOU GO TO YOUR ROOM THIS INSTANT!" Frigga thundered.

Skuld flinched as if slapped. Her gaze fell on Peorth, who was biting her lip and desperately trying to hold back tears, and finally realized what she had done wrong.

"I'm... I'm sorry," she whispered. She ran down the hall to her room.

As they heard Skuld's bedroom door slam, they all unconsciously turned back to Peorth. The love goddess rose from her seat and, summoning what was left of her composure and dignity, turned to Belldandy.

"Belldandy, I'm going to take my usual room if that's all right," she said quietly.

"Of course," the Norn replied.

"If you'll excuse me," she said and started down the hall in the direction Skuld had run.

Nyd followed the exchange closely. "I think I've missed something," he said.

"Yes, and it's none of your business," Urd told him.

Frigga ignored what her stepdaughter said and explained. "Peorth's boyfriend went rampant," she told him softly. "He was killed trying to reach the Demon Realm through Realm Zero. She saw him die."

"Oh," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"Really?" Urd asked him. "You didn't even know him, and you don't know Peorth. Why should you care?"

For the first time it seemed Urd had struck an angry chord in the otherwise mellow god. "He was a god, wasn't he? He had a family, friends, right? People die every day, Urd, that doesn't mean you shrug at it just because you're lucky enough not to have to endure the grief of their passing."

"Peace, peace, children," Frigga chided with a smile. She sighed. "Your first spat. Belldandy dearest, do you have a video camera?"

"Frigga," Urd growled.

888

She handed him a glass of ambrosia and smiled before turning and gazing out the window overlooking her dominion.

"An exciting time to be a demon, ne?" Hild asked him.

"As you say, Your Majesty," Metheus replied noncommittedly before sipping his wine. "Although, I must admit being surprised at the speech you gave. If I did not know better I would think you expected Carestia, Krieg and I to break through the Pearl Gate and march all the way to Terminal Dogma."

Hild laughed, a sound both girlish and dangerous at once. "My dear Inquisitor, you must learn why things work the way they do. After two wars, I know all too well that dominance cannot be attained by force of arms alone. It requires cunning, ruthlessness and seizing every opportunity."

She swirled the liquid around her glass as she regarded him. "No," she finally said. "I have something much better in mind for my trio of angel killers. We must increase our shares, and to do that we must cripple their ability to increase theirs. We must become strong." She nodded to him. "You received the intelligence report from the Earth Help Center?"

"I did," he said plainly.

She smiled. "Then go do what you do best, Inquisitor. It does not seem like much now, but another thousand years from now it will be seen as the opening shot in the battle that changed Creation."

He bowed to her. "As you wish, Your Majesty." He turned to go.

"Metheus," she called just as he reached the door. She paused as he waited for her to speak. Finally, her smile touched her ears. "If I _did_ order you to storm the Pearl Gate and take Terminal Dogma... what would you do?"

"I would storm the Pearl Gate," he replied as if the answer was as simple as the nose on his face. "And I would take Terminal Dogma."

She nodded. "On your way."

He bowed again and left. Hild checked her watch and downed the remaining wine. She had someplace to be herself.

888

Keiichi whistled as he looked up at the restaurant the four of them were walking toward. It was the same place he had dreamed of taking Belldandy to one day, but was so expensive he wasn't sure how he'd ever do it. This time it had been Frigga who had come to the rescue, giving Belldandy a credit card and cautioning her not to let Urd touch it.

"Is this a nice place?" Nyd asked.

"The nicest you'll find in this town," Keiichi told him, taking Belldandy's arm. The middle Norn had pulled out all the stops, wearing a powder blue dress adorned with white lace roses while he had found his old striped leisure suit. Urd, on the other hand, had managed to out-tacky Keiichi with an absolutely hideous mixed color dress that was probably supposed to look like a swirling miasma of colors but instead just looked like a rainbow had thrown up all over it. She was obviously still pissed, and this was her way of spiting Frigga...

Nyd didn't seem to care. He held an arm out to Urd, who promptly ignored it and walked inside without a word. The muse paused and followed a moment later. Keiichi and Belldandy hung back for a moment.

"I feel bad for him," Keiichi told her. "You know they didn't give him a choice either?"

"Hai," Belldandy whispered to him as they started up the stairs. "I understand Neesan's anger, but I wish she would find a better way to express it. This cruelty toward him isn't going to help matters."

He didn't reply and bit his lip, wondering if he should ask what was on his mind. She saw the look on his face and knew immediately he was troubled.

"What is it?" she asked as they passed through the glass double-doors into the restaurant.

"I was just wondering," he said quietly. "Does Ms. Frigga have some god picked out for you?"

She smiled and glanced toward the ground. "I have many years before I reach that age, Keiichi," she said. "And I am hopeful I will receive a proposal of marriage long before then." She stepped forward and away from him as they found their table, leaving Keiichi to wonder if she was hinting or merely making a statement of fact.

888

Once the two goddesses and their prospective significant others had left, Peorth had changed into something that would draw less attention and had walked out of the temple without a word to Frigga or Skuld. She didn't want to speak to them, face them, at the moment. She had something else in mind.

If there was one thing Heaven was bad for, it was nurturing depression. Every place, every establishment, every eatery in Heaven was bright and cheerful, and when you wanted a dark, quiet place to brood, it was awful.

But Earth offered millions of such places, and that's where Peorth found herself gravitating towards. Originally, she just wanted to brood. When a mortal man offered her a drink, she took it. Then the next one. And another...

And that's how she ended up on stage at the karaoke machine, the microphone in one hand and a whiskey sour in the other, depressing the hell out of the place.

"_Avec le temps,_

_avec le temps, va, tout s'en va,_

_on oublie le visage_

_et l'on oublie la voix,_

_le cœur quand ça bat plus,_

_c'est pas la peine d'aller chercher plus loin._

_Faut laisser faire, c'est très bien."_

She paused, closing her eyes and taking another sip of her drink.

"_Avec le temps,_

_avec le temps, va, tout s'en va._

_L'autre qu'on adorait,_

_qu'on cherchait sous la pluie ;_

_l'autre qu'on devinait au détour d'un regard entre les lignes,_

_entres les mots et sous le fard d'un serment maquillé_

_qui s'en va faire sa nuit..."_

Half the men in the place were watching her, entranced, wondering what had the woman so down and wondering what they might say to get her to go home with one of them. As they watched, another woman descended the stairs into the tavern and sat at the bar. Her black trench coat clashed with her green eyes, but it was her hair that drew the most stairs. Black hair cropped just above her shoulders was peppered with orange vertical lines like inverted tiger stripes. The woman drew a cigarette from her pocket with black-gloved hands. The man sitting next to her offered her a light, and she took it, settling in to listen to the song, regarding Peorth closely.

"_Avec le temps, avec le temps, va,_

_tout s'en va…_

_On oublie les passions et l'on oublie les voix_

_qui vous disaient tout bas, les mots des pauvres gens :_

_"Ne rentre pas trop tard, surtout ne prends pas froid."_

"Damn, she is wasted," one of the men at the bar noted. "You think I have a shot?"

"Who knows, Shigure?" another replied. "Maybe she has a thing for retards."

The men around the tiger-striped woman laughed. She continued to stare at the goddess, listening to the song that, even as it was drunkenly crooned, was hauntingly moving.

Peorth paused again and drained her glass, dropping it to the stage floor as she closed her eyes and pushed through the last verse, her head lolling in a circle, half conscious, half not.

"_Avec le temps,_

_avec le temps, va, tout s'en va et l'on se sent blanchi_

_comme un cheval fourbu et l'on se sent glacé_

_dans un lit de hasard et l'on se sent tout seul,_

_peut-être, mais pénard._

_Et l'on se sent floué par les années perdues._

_Alors vraiment, avec le temps…_

_On n'aime plus."_

Finished, the goddess started uncertainly for the stairs. The man next to the tiger-striped woman rose to "assist" her, but the woman's hand snagged his wrist as she rose. "Sit," she ordered simply.

"Hey, lady, who do..." The man went silent as the woman's stare bored down into him. He retook his seat and waved her away.

The woman stepped forward and took Peorth's arm just as she was about to fall down the stairs. "Come with me," the woman said quietly. "Come on."

Peorth allowed herself to be led to a nearby booth where the woman gently sat her down before taking the seat across from her. The woman lit another cigarette and waited for Peorth to give her some sign of life.

An hour and three cigarettes later, Peorth's eyes opened and found the woman. Tiger-stripes gestured to the bartender, who brought over a pot of black coffee and filled them a cup each.

"Who are you?" Peorth asked drowsily, fighting to sit up straight in her seat.

"I'm looking for my man," the woman told her.

"Your man?" Peorth asked with a hint of a smile.

Tiger-stripes took a sip of coffee before answering. "Yes. I conscripted him, I trained him, I commanded him for three years during the war. That makes him mine. I heard you saw him last."

Peorth looked at her with thinly veiled contempt as it became apparent who the woman was talking about. "Who sent you here?" she asked. "Combat Division? Grigori?" She leaned forward and put her palms on the table. "Well you can tell them to go _fuck themselves!_ _Connasse!_" she hissed.

Tiger-stripes watched as the goddess tried to rise to her feet, only to be defeated by an alliance of booze and gravity. She fell back into her seat and reached for the coffee, eager to sober up.

"They didn't send me," she told Peorth calmly. "I heard about you through unofficial channels. When I did, I had to see you."

"So you've seen me," Peorth said, holding her arms out to give the woman a better look.

"My name is Lieutenant Colonel Miranda... retired," she added hesitantly. "I was Corporal Wynn's commanding officer during the war. I know you're aware of the details of his final mission." She paused painfully. "I was _supposed_ to lead it," she finished.

Peorth refilled her coffee mug. "So does that mean you were the one who taught him to enjoy killing?" she asked contemptuously. "Who taught him neat little tricks like how to rip your own eye out?"

Miranda looked away guiltily. "I taught him to ignore pain, yes. Physical, emotional and spiritual."

"So what do you want?" Peorth asked her, exhausted by the very effort of having this conversation. "Forgiveness? I've none to offer any of you. Not for what you did to him."

The valkyrie wouldn't meet her eyes. "I need your help," she whispered.

Peorth giggled at her. "My help? You want _my_ help?"

"Yes."

The goddess's head rolled back and she muttered tiredly, "Tu me casses les couilles..."

"You're the last one to see him," Miranda went on.

"And he's dead! All right?!" Peorth shouted at her, causing every head in the bar to turn toward them. "He's dead, and it's gods like you who are responsible! As responsible as if you put a blade to his throat with your own two hands!" The goddess's eyes were on fire now.

"I know," Miranda whispered. "But there were six others," she went on. "And I have to know if they're still alive."

Peorth gasped a laugh at her. "You... want me... to give you what your people wouldn't give me for _a thousand years?!_" she hissed. "You want _closure?_! You want _peace of mind?!_" This time Peorth managed to stand up without stumbling. Grabbing the coffee cup off the table, she flung the contents into the valkyrie's face. "To Hell with your peace of mind!" she cried.

Miranda watched, coffee dripping down her face, as Peorth stormed out of the bar. With a sigh, she reached into her pocket and pulled out another cigarette. Lighting it, she wondered what she should do next.

888

The four of them sat down at their table, Urd across from Nyd and Keiichi across from Belldandy. Keiichi took a look around, not sure when he would next be able to afford to eat at a place like this. The place was dimly lit, giving the place a certain intimacy, while a four piece string band played softly from the other side of the room.

"It's beautiful," Belldandy said with a clap of her hands.

"I still prefer eating at home with you," Keiichi whispered to her, causing her to blush slightly.

The waiter poured water for them and then began filling a fifth glass at the end of the table.

"Oh, there's only four of us," Keiichi noted.

The waiter blinked. "I'm sorry, Sir, we received a call that said a fifth would be joining you."

"Great," Urd growled. "Frigga's coming to chaperone us." She looked across at Nyd and found the god looking past her, his face white as a sheet and the water glass in his hand shaking ever so slightly. "What's with you?" she asked.

Before he could answer a hand bearing a small box wrapped with a red bow appeared over her shoulder in front of her.

"For you, birthday girl," she heard a familiar voice say. She turned in her chair and saw Hild's smiling face an inch from her own.

888

Jethsemanie of the Earth Help Center peered out of the painting on the wall and with a flash of green light hopped nimbly onto the floor of her client's room, her blonde pony-tail swishing behind her.

Turning in the dimly lit room, she saw her client standing on the far side of the room, a look of terror on his face. She smiled warmly. This was normal. She just had to placate him and let him know why she was there, to grant his fondest wish.

"I am the goddess Jethsemanie," she told him with a short bow. "From the Earth Help Center. And I have come to..." She broke off as something finally dawned on her. The boy was terrified... but not surprised.

"Good sir?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

The boy shook in fear as something black descended from the ceiling behind the goddess. Finally, he managed to breathe a word, something _they_ had warned him not to do.

"Run," he squeaked.

Jethsemanie blinked. "Is something..." She sensed the presence behind her and turned.

Black Jack hissed, his fangs barely an inch from her face.

The goddess screamed.


	3. The Hardest Part is the Night

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. Special thanks to WillZ and Sethra for their help prereading this story.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 3  
**_

_**The Hardest Part is the Night**_

* * *

**"I once was a meek boy with a coward's heart.**

**Not here. Not anymore.**

**Now I am a lost soul with hell on his shoulders.**

**And I am coming..."**

_SSG David Bellavia_

_House to House_

* * *

Urd's eyes went wide as the box dropped into her lap and Hild, dressed to the nines in a black sequined dress, took the seat at the head of the table.

"Well, isn't this nice?" Hild asked with a bright smile. "My little girl is a thousand. You know, in the Demon Realm, by the time a girl reaches a thousand..."

"Wait, let me guess," Keiichi said. "She has to get married."

Hild gave him a dangerous smile. "Actually, I was going to say that a demoness has to have killed at least one mouthy mortal... but we'll skip that for now."

"What are you doing here?" Urd asked her point blank.

"I'm celebrating my little girl's birthday," Hild replied as if the question itself were stupid. The waiter approached, and she turned to him. "Bollinger, please." The waiter ran off to fetch a bottle of champagne.

"Now, I remember you two," she said, pointing at Belldandy and Keiichi. "But you..." She turned her gaze to the still-quaking Nyd. "You're new..."

"This is Nyd," Urd told her, omitting the reason for his presence.

"A pleasure," Hild told him, thoroughly enjoying the terrified reaction she had inspired in him.

The healer cleared his throat nervously and squeaked, "Hi."

The arch-demoness turned back to her daughter. "Well, open it!"

Urd eyed the box warily...

"Normally, I would agree that it's not the best of ideas to open a package with my return address on it," Hild confided in her with a wink. "But this time it's safe. I promise."

Her curiosity adequately piqued, Urd unwrapped the box and opened it, pulling out a small glass vial with three small beetles jockeying one another for space inside it.

"Bugs?" Keiichi asked.

Urd's eyes had gone wide. "Hild," she breathed. "I don't know what to say."

"Bugs?" Keiichi asked again.

"They're Stapgh Beetles," Belldandy explained to him. "They're very rare and a very potent ingredient for the most powerful concoctions."

"They're priceless," Urd agreed. "What I'm holding in my hand could buy Nekomi and the next three towns down the road."

"Wow," Keiichi replied. "I think I pulled ten of those off the Beemer's windshield..."

Hild beamed. "I know your talents for potion-making are often hampered by a lack of suitable ingredients."

The waiter reappeared and poured champagne for everyone. "So," Hild continued. "What did that woman you used to live with get you?" she asked, the disdain in her voice plainly evident.

Urd bristled. Although angry at Frigga for springing the Pairing on her, she had been the goddess who raised her since she was a child. "Oh, you know," she replied casually. "The usual."

"Hmm," Hild noted, knowing instinctively that Urd was hiding something from her. She thought about going into her mind and just taking the information, but that was an intrusive act, one that would violate the intrinsic trust that was supposed to be the cornerstone of the mother/daughter relationship.

Instead, she turned to Keiichi and ripped the pertinent information from his brain with her mind.

"AUGH!" Keiichi cried, his hands going to his left eye.

"Keiichi!" Belldandy cried, standing and going to his side. She turned to Hild. "What did you do to him?!"

Hild was too busy being outraged to answer her. She turned to Urd. "That _bitch!_" she declared.

Keiichi was still holding his eye, but his injury seemed to galvanize Nyd and prompted him to act. He stood over Keiichi and held his head still. "Keiichi, listen to me. I want you to take your hands away and slowly open your eye..."

"How _dare_ she?!" Hild was continuing. "Without consulting _me_?!"

"Um... or _me_?" Urd prompted.

"A mother has the right to be involved in these decisions!" Hild raged. "I cannot believe she simply decreed that you would wed this... spineless... goody-two-shoes... effeminate..."

"You forgot 'good-looking,'" Nyd suddenly added with a touch of acid, not turning from Keiichi's eye. Urd threw him a look of honest respect. It seemed that Nyd needed to be in his element to really get going.

Keiichi opened his eye and Belldandy whimpered slightly at the sight. The white of Keiichi's eye had turned a deep, demonic red.

Nyd smiled. "It looks like you burst a capillary," he told him. "It looks worse than it really is. We just have to repair the artery..."

"You will _not_ marry this god," Hild declared as if from on-high. "It's offensive to me!"

Urd growled and slammed her hands down on the table. "Dammit! I have a novel idea for my birthday! How about letting me make my own damn decisions!? How about that for a birthday gift?!"

Belldandy turned to Hild, her face a mask of anger. "You insult our family, hurt Keiichi and then you have the gall to be insulted?!"

Hild smiled. "Little goddess, do we share blood?"

"No," Belldandy told her.

"Then what makes you think for one moment that the courtesy and slack I offer to my daughter in any way extends to you?"

She didn't wait for an answer, instead turning back to Urd. "I thought you didn't _want_ to marry this pathetic little god?"

Nyd, his glowing hand over Keiichi's eye, didn't bother turning as he said, "You know, I'm standing _right here_..."

"That's beside the point!" Urd growled. "You and Frigga both seem to think that I'm somehow incapable of making my own decisions, my own choices. Well, as much as I hate to admit it, Frigga was right about one thing. I _did_ decide to become a goddess, which means I have to live with the consequences of that choice, the most annoying of which right now is him!" She pointed at Nyd, who sighed.

Urd went on. "If I marry him, I marry him as a direct result of the choices I made. If I find a way out of it, it'll be as a result of some choice I _will_ make. It will not be as a result of a royal decree from _you!_"

Hild's face was the picture-perfect example of fury. "Fine," she hissed. Downing her champagne, she rose from her chair. "Enjoy the bugs, happy birthday." With that, she stormed out of the restaurant. Urd sighed and shook her head. She turned to the others just as Nyd was finishing treating Keiichi, a worried Belldandy hovering anxiously nearby.

"The blood vessel is repaired," Nyd told him. "But your eye is going to be red for a few days."

"Thanks, Nyd," Keiichi murmured.

"Keiichi? Do you need anything?" Belldandy asked him.

"No, I'm okay," he replied.

Urd started to open her mouth, but Nyd beat her to it. "I think it would be best if we cut the night short and go home," he told them with a touch of sadness. "I think we've all had enough _annoyances_ for one night."

"If you guys want to stay..." Keiichi began as Belldandy helped him up.

"No, Nyd's right," Urd said. "Let's go."

888

Carestia waited until she heard him invite her in through the door before entering his room. She gave one last unconscious toss of her midnight black hair as she pushed the door open and found him standing at his window.

The goddess once known as 'Elra,' felt an electric thrill run through her spine at the sight of him. During the war, she had been a staff sergeant in their unit, while he a lance corporal. Now he was the High Inquisitor, a "demon" of great power and influence, something that attracted her fiercely. The role reversal only sweetened the situation.

Metheus turned to her for a moment before looking out the window again. "And?" he asked regally.

"Krieg just reported back," she told him, her accent coming out in a sophisticated purr. "That's three."

"Good," he said quietly. "I'll let you know when the next target list is ready."

She regarded him with a predatory smile. When she and Basken, Krieg now, were called before Hild a month ago, they knew they must have been caught. Indeed they had been, but it had been hundreds of years before, and Hild had been watching them, sizing them up, seeing how they would fare as demons. And she had not been disappointed by them.

When Hild made her offer, Carestia didn't need to be convinced. She had made her decision before Hild got into the rewards or Metheus briefed them on his reception by the Combat Division when he tried to report back. No, she had known for quite some time where her true path lay, and had long ago given up on the idea of ever reporting back to Heaven.

Heaven was restrictive, ordered. Hell was different. As Elra, she had been shocked at the kind of behaviors she saw in Hell. As Carestia, she was a part of them. Upon first arriving in Hell, she knew she would have to change her outlook on things to avoid blowing her cover. At first, she endured them. Then she accepted them. Now, she reveled in them. In Heaven she would be considered depraved. In Hell she was _free_.

Metheus turned back to her, his real eye boring into her. "Was there something else?"

She wondered briefly what he would do if she tried to claw it out. Strike her? Hold her down and...

She smiled. "It's interesting how things work out, isn't it?" she asked, tilting her head. "That we three survived all this time only to switch sides?"

"It's no magic trick," Metheus told her seriously. "They knew it would happen to us if we stayed here long enough."

"Even so," she went on. "We once again find ourselves alone, different. Similar only to one another." She took a step toward him and let her fingers trace along the back of his arm.

"Not in every way," he told her.

"But in enough," she relented, smiling at him as he finally turned to her, giving her a view of the scarred right side of his face. Many recoiled at the sight of the Inquisitor's scars. She was attracted to them. It made him seem more... monstrous.

"Or do you have trouble letting go of the old world?" she asked, changing tactics. "I admit, I find myself troubled sometimes at what we're doing." It was a blatant lie, of course. She had never felt more alive, excited or aroused as when she had watched her angel, Deviant Shiloh, choke the life out of another belonging to a goddess from the Goddess Help Line. It had only been a few hours before, and the act still excited her. "Sometimes," she went on, "I look within for comfort and cannot find any. Perhaps we can both find it without..." She reached up and caressed his scars.

Metheus frowned. "Look for comfort elsewhere," he growled. "Hell is not the place to find it. Nor is it in my arms or between your legs."

She took a step back and grinned at him, amused by this reaction. The rampant goddess gave him an exaggerated bow. "As you wish, Inquisitor," she purred. "Another time, perhaps. When you're in the mood for something more lively." She turned on her heel and sauntered out.

Metheus watched her go, disgusted by her. His decision to formally throw in with Hild had come after much soul-searching and with a great cost. Carestia, meanwhile, had been all too eager to abandon Heaven for the cruel pleasures Hell provided. He had no illusions, however. He knew his choice was not the noble one, but it did allow him to survive.

But the cost...

His mind went back to those last few moments he had shared with Peorth in The Spark. In a last desperate attempt to bring him back to the light, she had melded with him.

And then they were ripped apart, and he was alone again.

Was survival really enough?

A red crystal sitting on his desk began to glow. Hild was summoning him.

He would return to these thoughts later.

888

Peorth sat at the kitchen table and looked at her reflection in the swirling coffee in the cup in her hand. Her conversation with Miranda was still echoing in her mind as she wished she had had enough wits about her to say a hundred different things, mostly about Miranda's mother, the Combat Division's sexual orientation and exactly where they could shove their self-righteous moral equivalence.

She was angry. The goddess hadn't really realized it until tonight, too wrapped up in depression to let the anger swell, but it was there, waiting for a suitable target, and tonight one had presented herself. She was angry, and she wanted them to know it.

Peorth hated them.

For what they had done, for letting it happen to start with. The lives of seven gods, one of whom her dearest love, had meant nothing in their eyes. They were little more than pawns, assets, to be sacrificed when convenient.

She hated them.

The love goddess wanted to cry. Desperately, as a matter of fact. She didn't like this new feeling inside her, this wanton, boiling hate. She would prefer to be depressed, to cry, to grieve for another century than feel this way. Even when she had been angry at Belldandy it hadn't reached this level of malevolence. It disgusted her. She disgusted herself.

"Peorth?"

She looked up and found Skuld peeking around from the kitchen doorway.

"Oui?" she asked tiredly.

Skuld stepped into the kitchen, her head bowed and her hands behind her back. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for before. I wasn't thinking." She bowed low. "I'm sorry!"

Peorth had to smile just a little. Not everyone forgot about the wrongs they did to others. Some actually accounted for them. "It's all right," she said. "I know you didn't mean it."

Skuld straightened. "I know I didn't say it at the time, but I'm really sorry about Mr. Wynn."

The love goddess nodded. "Thank you. You didn't know him, but he wasn't always like that. There was a time when his smile could disarm the most angry god..." She smiled. "... or charm the most intractable young goddess."

"Were you young when you met?" Skuld asked.

Peorth nodded. "In school."

"Like... my age?" the young goddess asked nervously.

Peorth sensed a probe of more than pleasant memories and took a sip of coffee. "You seem troubled, child," she noted.

"Don't call me a child," Skuld said, but without heat. "And... yeah."

The older woman considered that admission. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"I want to hire you!" Skuld suddenly blurted.

Peorth blinked, surprised by the sudden change. "Hire me?"

Skuld nodded. "I need help! Usually I'd go to Oneesama, but in this case she... Well... She wouldn't really know how to help, and Urd is... busy... with her own problems. And well..."

She paused.

"Go on," Peorth prompted, putting her coffee down.

"Okay, look," Skuld finally continued. "On one hand, I'm still super ticked off about what you did to get Oneesama and Keiichi together, okay? But on the other..." She sighed. "I have to admit it worked... and I need that kind of expertise."

It finally dawned on the still-muddle-headed goddess what Skuld was asking for. "Skuld... You need a _love goddess_?!"

The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if she were about to dive into a vat of sewage, and nodded. "Yes."

"I think you should start from the beginning," Peorth told her.

888

Metheus found Hild in her chambers, not in the best of moods by the look of the remains of a few statues and vases strewn about the floor after she had flung them against the stone walls of her room. He bowed to her.

"Your Majesty," he greeted.

If she was still angry, she had enough poise not to show it. "How did it go?" she asked point blank.

"The intelligence gathered from Nidhogg's hack into Yggdrasil was accurate," he told her. "Three goddesses, two from the Earth Help Center and one from the Goddess Help Line, were intercepted as they arrived and... disabled," he finished.

Hild nodded. "Any reaction from Heaven?"

"Nothing concrete yet," Metheus told her. "It's not unusual for granting goddesses to be out of contact for awhile while a wish is decided upon. In a day or so when a wish fails to materialize, there'll be a more definitive reaction."

She nodded again and went to the crystal cabinet nearby. "Drink?" she added.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," he replied as she poured one for him, turning to hand it to him.

"We'll give it some time," she said. "Make them think it was a fluke, and then hit them again. It won't take long for them to start cancelling wishes to safeguard their granters. When that happens, their market shares will start to dive. Our demons will move in with our own offers." She swirled the red wine in her glass around and took a sip. "And once this is over, Metheus, you will be rewarded." She turned and smiled at him. "King of your own realm, I think."

He paused. "It's not enough," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she asked. "For a moment, I thought my generosity was being thrown back at me."

He raised his good eye to her. "Your reward is generous," he conceded. "But to be king of a realm is not enough."

"Then what would be?" she asked dangerously.

Metheus regarded her carefully, knowing how thin the ice he was treading on was. "A king needs a queen," he told her simply.

She giggled, her hand going to her chest. "Oh, Metheus, how bold to request my hand in..." She broke off, her eyes narrowing. "Oh, you mean _her_."

The demoness stepped toward her window, surveying her realm as she thought on this turn of events. "I thought you decided it was for the best to leave her behind? For her own safety?"

"That was before," he replied. "When I was hiding what I was. Now that I've accepted it, embraced it, I have no fear of what it might do. I can control it."

"And how would you control her?" she asked with a smile. "She _is_ a goddess, after all."

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," he said.

She smiled as an opportunity to settle old scores danced before her eyes. Turning, she addressed him again. "Very well! As part of your reward, I shall bend Hell's will toward... attaining... this young goddess for you. In return, however, you will be required to accomplish a special task. A simple errand for me."

He bowed. "It is my honor to carry out your will, Your Majesty," he gave the formal answer automatically.

Hild grinned. Yes, this would be delicious. "Heaven has ensnared my daughter's mind, as you know," she said. "She chose to live there, to be one of them. This was not the intent of the Armistice. The Armistice Child was to remain _here._ As such, there is now a disparity, a violation of the treaty, if you will."

The quest she had in mind dawned on him. "You want me to bring Urd to you," he concluded.

She smiled evilly. "No," she said quietly. "My daughter has made her choices, and now she will live with them. As my daughter, she is entitled to that. But the disparity _will_ be corrected."

"Then... how?" he asked.

The demoness turned to him. "Frigga has taken a daughter from me," she said, her voice becoming a dangerous growl. "I shall therefore take a daughter from her."

Metheus felt a shiver run up his spine as Hell's most powerful demon leveled her gaze at him.

"Bring me Belldandy," she hissed. "I want her brought here... and I want her _broken_! Do you understand, Inquisitor? Do this... and I will see to it that your Peorth is made yours again. A wife for you, a daughter for me."

Wynn would have refused. Wynn would have known that such a bargain would not only deprive a goddess of her freedom but he his soul. Wynn would have turned away...

He, however, was not Wynn.

Metheus bowed. "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

888

"So you and this Sentaro boy have been 'friends' for some time?" Peorth asked, making the quote gesture with her fingers.

Skuld nodded. "And this morning he asked me to a junior prom," she continued. "And from what I could gather, it's some kind of ritual gathering that involves folk dancing..."

"Mmmm... close," Peorth told her.

"And well... I said yes without really thinking, and by the time I realized I had no idea what I was agreeing to, it was too late!"

"I see," the love goddess smiled, leaning back in her seat.

"I...well..." Skuld frowned. "This all falls under some kind of confidentiality agreement, right?"

"Oui," Peorth told her with a knowing smile.

The younger goddess sighed. "Okay, I like him," she confessed. "And I don't think I like him like I like ice cream. I think I like him the way Oneesama likes Keiichi."

"That's a powerful statement," Peorth noted.

"So I don't want to look like a total idiot at this... festival... prom... whatever it is."

"And, of course, you want to suitably impress this young man," Peorth added.

"... Yeah," Skuld relented. "So... I need help."

Peorth felt a warmth spread through her chest. The goddess's problem was so wonderfully innocent and so important at the same time. It was young love at its finest. How could she refuse?

"Very well," Peorth said regally. "I will assist you."

Skuld sighed with relief. "Thanks, Peorth."

"It means you will have to trust me," Peorth warned her. Skuld nodded in response. "I will ask you to do things that will seem strange or embarrassing, and you will do them, non?" Skuld nodded again.

"Then you have hired yourself a love goddess," Peorth announced, standing and offering a bow.

"So, what's first?" Skuld asked.

"When is the prom?"

"This coming Saturday."

"Then we have a lot of work to do," Peorth told her. "Come."

888

"My poor Keiichi," Belldandy crooned as she held the icepack to her boyfriend's eye. "Does it still hurt?"

"How's it look?" he asked with a wince. Safely in their room, Keiichi could drop the tough-guy act _a little_.

Belldandy lifted the icepack away and winced sympathetically. "It looks like something you would see on a demon," she said honestly. "But Nyd san says it'll just take a little time."

"Good thing he was there," Keiichi noted. "If I had seen this in the mirror, I would have freaked out."

She smiled and pressed the icepack against his eye.

"Hai. We were fortunate."

"I can't believe Hild gave Urd the chance to get out of the engagement and she didn't take it," Keiichi said. "I mean all she's done all day is treat Nyd like she hates him, and what does she do? She passes."

Belldandy bit her lip. "You have to understand how Neesan's mind works, Keiichi," she told him. "Neesan would rather do _anything_ than agree with Hild. If the two of them are on the same side of any issue, Neesan starts questioning herself."

"Think this means she'll stop acting like he's some kind of bug?"

"Unfortunately... not," Belldandy said.

888

By the time they had arrived home, everyone else in the house was asleep. Urd had stalked down the hall toward her room immediately, and Belldandy led Keiichi to their own so she could tend to him. Before he knew it, Nyd was alone in the living room and not sure where he was supposed to be.

Sighing, he started to move furniture out of the way to make a place for himself to sleep. He knew he wasn't being snubbed, really. Urd simply hated him and Belldandy had been too concerned about Keiichi to remember him. Besides, he had slept in worse places.

He found a throw pillow and turned out the lights before lying down on the living room floor. Sleep, however, was elusive as he kept thinking about his current situation.

Nyd was guilty of having _some_ hope that this wouldn't be as bad as he thought it would be. He had heard rumors about Urd, of course. She was famous... though some would say "notorious." She was known for being impulsive, for not thinking things through, for lying...

But he didn't want to judge her without even seeing her, so he had taken a deep breath and squashed down his uneasiness.

Of course now, he knew that uneasiness justified.

This was the goddess he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with?

_Maybe... Maybe it won't be so bad,_ his mind tried to console him.

It wasn't as if he had a lot of experience to draw on when it came to love. He spent most of his time in mortal third-world hell-holes. There weren't a lot of classy goddesses down there. All of the goddesses he knew were in the medical profession and were much more inclined to discuss new treatments for compound spiritual dissonance than what's playing at the local cinema.

But he _had_ hoped, just for a moment, that everything he had heard about Urd would turn out to be wrong, that she would, in fact, happen to be a nice young woman who was simply misunderstood.

He heard movement behind him and turned his head to see a dark shaping moving toward him. A small spark of light appeared, revealing Frigga standing there holding a lighting spell.

"Nyd?" she whispered. "What are you doing out here?"

"Lady Frigga," he whispered back. "Just... sleeping," he said lamely.

"Come, child," Frigga told him. "There's a room waiting for you."

"Oh," he said, feeling very stupid. Of course Frigga would have made sure he had a place to sleep. What was wrong with him anyway?

He followed the godly queen down the darkened hall and stopped outside a door toward the end. "Here you are," she said. "This is the most appropriate place for you."

"Oh," he said. "Okay. Thank you, Milady."

The lighting spell illuminated Frigga's smile in an eerie glow. "Good night, son," she told him, turning and walking away, taking her light with her.

Suddenly entombed in darkness again and wary of waking the others, he fumbled at the door and managed to quietly slide it open. Stepping inside, he felt his foot come in contact with the edge of the futon. Too tired to change, he crawled into bed and pulled the blanket over him.

He closed his eyes and found his mind once again drifting toward his current situation. Perhaps he was being too hasty. After all, her mother had sprung this decision on her with no warning. She just needed some time to get used to the idea.

The god felt something moving on his chest and opened his eyes, thinking it might be a mouse or a spider. He was used to sleeping with vermin. What he wasn't used to was seeing a slender feminine hand resting on his chest.

Swallowing nervously, he turned his head and saw silvery hair illuminated in the moonlight washing in from the window.

His eyes went wide. Urd was sleeping right next to him. What was he going to do? If he stayed, she'd kill him. If he tried to leave, she might wake up and kill him again.

He tried to control his breathing. All he had to do was get out of the bed without waking her up. Easy as pie... Except of course that pie can't reduce you to a pile of smoking ash...

As he slowly began to extricate himself from the futon, his eyes came to rest on her face, and he paused. It was the first time had ever seen her when she wasn't scowling at him. She looked peaceful... beautiful.

Her green eyes opened slowly and met his...

888

"Well... look at it this way," Belldandy began with an attempt at a smile as she held her robe tightly to herself. "Now you have a wonderful view of the stars at night!"

Urd was still shaking in rage as the two stood under the eight foot hole in her roof where her depth charge had slammed through the ceiling after Nyd.

"I told you he was a date rapist," she hissed.

"It's not fair to jump to conclusions without hearing his side, Neesan," Belldandy told her gently. "And just as soon as he comes out of that coma, we'll be able to ask him."

Lying nearby, Nyd moaned as Peorth tended to him. Hearing the sound, Urd stormed over to him.

"All right, loverboy!" Urd growled. "My sister seems to think you're innocent until proven guilty, so start talking!"

Nyd blinked. "Huh?"

Urd pointed down at him. "You think because we're stuck with this situation you can just waltz in and take advantage of it?" she demanded. "Get while the gett'ns good?"

"N...N... No!" he stammered. "I just..."

"Just what?!" she growled. "Just wanted to try your luck?"

"No... I..." He swallowed nervously. What was he supposed to say? He could tell the truth, but that would just turn Urd's anger toward Frigga, and he knew things there were already very shaky.

He came to a decision and looked up at her.

"I didn't know you were in there," he said. The truth. "I thought that was the room I was supposed to be in," he continued. Also the truth.

"And just what gave you _that_ idea?" Urd asked, her arms folded over her chest.

Nyd took a breath. He opened his mouth and paused for a half moment, treading carefully between helping Frigga save face and straight out lying. "Under the circumstances," he began, "I had no reason to believe otherwise..."

"You suck at lying," Urd growled.

"This is true," he agreed, wincing.

"Enough!" Frigga said, having entered the room a moment before and catching wind of the conversation. She pushed herself between the two and faced Urd, her hands on her hips. "He had no reason to believe otherwise because _I_ told him that was where he was supposed to be."

It wasn't possible for Urd to be more livid. "_What?!_" she hissed.

"He was sleeping on the living room floor like a refugee," Frigga told her. "He is your fiancé, and more than that a guest in your home."

"Gomen," Belldandy suddenly interrupted. "I was so concerned about Keiichi's injury I neglected to..."

"No!" Frigga snapped, holding a finger up in front of her middle daughter. "You were tending to your mate. That is your role. Urd's role, at the very _least_, was to see that Nyd's immediate needs were met. If there is one thing I have always tried to pound into you girls' heads, it's that guests in your house are treated with dignity and respect... no matter how you might feel about them." She threw a look at Urd at this last point.

Urd wasn't listening, too overcome with sheer wrath to hear her stepmother's words. "You sent him to my room?" she hissed again.

Frigga folded her arms over her chest. "I did."

The love goddess searched for something appropriate to say, something that would sink into her stepmother's head. She couldn't attack her... As powerful as Urd was, Frigga was an elder goddess, a choir of deity so high she wasn't required to wear a limiter. No contest.

And what could she possible say to make her stepmother figure out how appalling her actions were without getting another lecture? There was nothing, and she knew it.

Instead, she looked past her to Nyd. "Well I hope you got a good taste," she growled. "Because that's as close as _you're_ ever going to get!"

With that, she turned and stormed out of the room. "I'm bunking with Peorth!" she announced.

Nyd didn't say anything as Urd snarled at him.

He was too busy looking at her eyes...

888

Urd yawned as she settled into the futon next to Peorth's. She mumbled something about being sorry for the inconvenience and closed her eyes, anticipating a troubled sleep.

"Cheri?" Peorth asked. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Urd growled. "Tired..." She chuckled a little bit. "Pissed off..."

"I can imagine," Peorth told her.

"You're lucky," Urd told her. "Your family doesn't practice the Pairing."

"Vrai," Peorth conceded. "I'm a little older than you as well."

"Who even follows a tradition like that?" Urd asked quietly. "It's so stupid."

"You really didn't pay attention in History of Reproduction, did you?" Peorth asked, shaking her head.

"That class was _nothing_ like I was led to believe," Urd growled.

Peorth rolled her eyes. "It's rooted in the aftermath of the First War Against God," she explained. "So many gods and goddesses had been killed... almost an entire generation had been wiped out. At that point, every goddess was told it was her duty to bear children, and any goddess who shunned marriage was thought to be turning her back on civilization."

"They take it too seriously," Urd grumbled.

"Maybe, but haven't you ever noticed how _none_ of the elder gods and goddesses will sit with Artemis during formal events or dinners?"

"Artemis is a bitch," Urd told her.

"She also made it a point to never marry and threw it in the faces of other goddesses every chance she had," Peorth went on. "The older generations take this very seriously, Urd."

"Che! Then _you_ marry him!"

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"I'm not talking to him," Urd said resolutely. "I can't believe you of all people would even suggest this is in any way acceptable. What happened to true love? To Destiny?"

"What makes you think Destiny can't be at work here?" Peorth asked. "Think about it. From what Frigga told me about Nyd, he's spent his entire life in jungles and deserts, away from other gods and goddesses, away from anyone who might catch his heart..."

Urd snorted with laughter again.

Peorth ignored her. "... And now, your paths have crossed and forced the issue. Is it not possible that Destiny saw the Pairing as the only way to cross your stars?"

"You buy into this destiny stuff a little too much, Peorth," Urd told her, rolling over and intending this time to fall asleep.

"Perhaps..." Peorth relented. "It hasn't really served me well..."

Urd suddenly felt a flash of guilt. She had no business talking about love and destiny while Peorth was still grieving for Wynn. She hoped the other love goddess was healing, that her fears about Peorth going rampant were unfounded. But they had linked... and they had been ripped from that link. There was no telling what had remained in them.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the sound of a gentle sniffle came from the other goddess's bed. Urd didn't know if Peorth wanted comfort or to be left alone.

The sniffle gave way to a quiet sob, and Urd wondered how many times in the past month Peorth had drifted to sleep with tears in her eyes.

She felt another flash of guilt, this time for something she couldn't believe she was doing. The love goddess was a little envious. Though Peorth had lost, she had indeed loved, deeply. She had scoffed when Peorth told her she had only loved one god and more intensely than Urd ever had. Now the Norn believed it...

And she wondered if she would ever know that kind of love.


	4. Learning How to Fall

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 4**_

_**Learning How to Fall**_

* * *

**"Their tears are filling up their glasses,**

**No expression, no expression,**

**Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow,**

**No tomorrow, no tomorrow..."**

_Tears for Fears  
_

_Mad World_

* * *

"Now then, we shall begin with the five senses," Peorth began as she marched back and forth before the seated Skuld. The two had woken up early to begin Skuld's training in, as Peorth referred to it, "the womanly arts."

"The five senses?" Skuld asked.

"Oui, petite," Peorth replied. "Snaring the object of your affection comes down to a manipulation of his five senses. If done properly, the manipulations of each individual sense: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell; blend together to form a single package that makes _you_ irresistible to him."

"Okay," Skuld said with a touch of nervousness. "Where do we start?"

Peorth held up a small bottle of amber liquid. "Smell, as it's the easiest at this point." She handed the bottle to Skuld, who looked at it with frank suspicion.

"This isn't some kind of love potion, is it?" she asked.

Peorth smiled. "Non, I'm not Urd. It's a simple, unassuming perfume, a fragrance I'm sure he'll find quite appealing."

Skuld shrugged, popped the top and aimed the sprayer at her neck.

"Wait!" Peorth suddenly cried, taking the sprayer from her. "Remember, you're not trying to overwhelm him with one individual element. You're combining them. Moderation is the key. Like this." She sprayed the back of one of her wrists and rubbed it against the other. Then, spraying a small bit on her finger tips, she dabbed some behind her ears. "Behind the ears and in the hollow of your neck like this," she explained. She handed the bottle back. "Go on."

Skuld imitated the motions and found the perfume to be sweet-smelling without drowning her sense of smell in it.

"Voila!" Peorth announced. "One down, four to go."

"Okay, that was easy," Skuld said, smiling with a little more confidence. "What's next?"

Peorth smiled wickedly. "Touch."

Skuld swallowed reflexively. "T...Touch?" she stammered nervously.

"Oui," Peorth purred. "Touch is very important when dealing with two people. It's a form of communication that a woman and a man can interpret instinctively. You need to learn it... particularly if you're going to be dancing."

Skuld backed away instinctively. "Like... how?" she asked.

Peorth straightened. "Stand up."

The young goddess rose to her feet and faced her teacher.

"Now," Peorth began. "Give me your hand." Skuld complied, offering Peorth her left hand. "When he picks you up at the door, offer him your hand," she instructed. "Don't wait for him to ask or offer his arm. By taking his hand, you send a signal to him that you're already on a level where you're comfortable with him, oui?"

Skuld nodded.

"Even holding hands, there are certain things you can do to send signals to him," Peorth went on. She squeezed gently. "It's not a dead fish. Squeezing his hand can mean several things depending on the context. It can mean, 'I'm having a good time,' or 'I'm a frightened young woman in need of protection.' Don't just let it rest there."

Skuld nodded again, absorbing as much information as she could.

"Now then," Peorth said again with a knowing smile. "If things are going _very_ well, you can do this..."

Skuld blinked as she felt Peorth's thumb rub against the palm of her hand.

"Be careful how you use that, though," Peorth told her with a wink. "It's essentially the prelude to a kiss."

The youngest Norn turned a bright shade of red. "Well... I won't be using _that_!" she declared, throwing her nose in the air in a fair imitation of Urd.

"Don't be so sure, petite," Peorth told her. "No young woman is ever sure of that."

888

"Nyd san?"

The healer looked up from the holo-top on which he had been working and found Belldandy standing over him.

"Ms. Belldandy," he said. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head and sat at the table next to him. "I wanted to let you know that I've prepared a room for you. I'm very sorry I didn't do it sooner. Gomen."

"Please, you don't have to apologize," Nyd told her. "I'm intruding on you, remember? And I haven't really thanked you for your hospitality."

"You're welcome here," she told him.

He looked away nervously. "I had wondered..."

Belldandy took his hand. "Don't worry. Neesan only needs time."

"Somehow, I don't believe she'll ever forgive me for this," Nyd told her.

"It was a misunderstanding..."

"No, I mean the Pairing," he told her. "It's funny. When Mother first told me about it, I was so angry. I felt betrayed. I thought she was looking to her interests over my own. I still think that, but after awhile, I warmed a little to the idea." He looked up at her and smiled. "Have you ever heard of a Vector Daemon?"

She shook her head.

He looked back down at the table. "My work in the bush and the sandbox wasn't restricted to treating the ill. Not all diseases are 'natural.' Some are created or inspired by our opposite numbers among the demons, Vector Daemons. They created AIDS, Ebola, Morningstar... Sometimes the only way to wipe out a new, deadly strain is to stop it at the source, to seal its Vector."

"I see..." she whispered.

"There have been many times, Ms. Belldandy, when I was sure I was going to be captured and sealed with no one back home to even know I was gone. So... the idea of someone... well... missing me... I don't know. I had hoped..."

"I'm sure there are many people who would have missed you under those circumstances, Nyd san," she told him.

"Perhaps," he whispered.

"Docteur Nyd?"

They looked up and found Peorth smiling at him evilly from the doorway.

"Uh... Yeah?" he replied.

"Docteur... I need you," she said, her voice loaded with innuendo.

888

Standing just outside the door, Urd heard Nyd and Peorth leave the room and let her curiosity get the better of her, tip-toeing down the hall after them. She watched as the two entered Peorth's room and blinked.

_There's no way I'm this lucky..._ she thought. She crept up to the door and very quietly slid it open a bare inch.

What she saw shocked her to her very core.

"Remember, look into his eyes, let him lead," Peorth was saying as some gentle music played quietly behind her. "And... one, two, three... one, two, three..."

Skuld, her face the shade of a tomato's, and Nyd were waltzing unsteadily as Peorth stood to the side, directing them.

"Why do I have to do this with _him_?" Skuld asked between gritted teeth. "No offense to you, Nyd san."

"Because," Peorth explained. "To get the full effect, you have to dance with a man. Unless you prefer I ask Keiichi to help..."

"Absolutely not!" Skuld shot back.

"I don't mind helping," Nyd told her. "I've never done this before either, though, so I'm not very good."

"You're doing fine, Docteur," Peorth assured him. "Continue. One, two, three... One, two, three..."

Urd's brain was breaking. She sighed quietly. He was simply too nice a god. It made her wonder what kind of goddess Eir would have _preferred_ to saddle him with. In another time and place, he probably would have made a good match for Belldandy.

"I think I'm getting better at this!" Nyd declared as they danced.

"Skuld! Stop leading!" Peorth admonished.

"Fine, fine..."

She shook her head. The world was simply upside down today.

"Now, Skuld, I'm going to show you something important," Peorth told her, breaking the two up. "Observe." She stepped up to Nyd and took Skuld's place as his dance partner and began to lecture.

"Inevitably, a man, being a man, is going to shift his gaze downward toward your cash and prizes," Peorth told her.

"So you clobber him," Skuld concluded. "Easy, I can do that."

"Non," Peorth objected. "You mustn't punish a man for being a man. Instead, you have to turn it to your advantage." She turned her attention to Nyd. "Docteur, look down at my chest please."

The healer started to sweat. "Um... what?" he asked.

"My chest," Peorth repeated. "Look down as if you're stealing a glance."

"Um... Is this a trap?" he asked.

"Non. Now please look down."

Nyd cleared his throat, and then, with what seemed like a great deal of effort, he cast his eyes downward.

"Now watch," she told Skuld. "First, count to three in your head. Then..." She placed her fingers under Nyd's chin and gently lifted his head until his eyes met hers again. She cleared her throat quietly and said, "I'm up here."

"I still think you should just clobber him," Skuld noted.

Peorth turned to her. "Non, by doing this you send a signal to him that says, 'I understand how you feel, but now's not the appropriate time.'"

"You know what else says that?" Skuld asked. "A debugging hammer straight to his b..."

Nyd coughed nervously. "Well! That was fun! Anything else?!"

Peorth turned back to him. "No, Docteur, thank you very much for your help." She smiled as Nyd started for the door.

Urd dived into the bathroom across the hall and waited for Nyd to leave before stepping out and sneaking back down the hall. She'd just had the most awesome idea of all time. All she needed now was to get Belldandy on board.

She found the middle Norn carrying a hamper into the laundry room. The love goddess grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hall into her room, which still sported a large hole in the ceiling.

"Neesan?! What is it?!" Belldandy asked, surprised at her sister's behavior.

"I've got it!" Urd cried, grinning from ear to ear. "I found my way out!"

"That's nice," Belldandy told her. "How?"

Urd could barely contain her excitement. "Remember how you said all I had to do was marry another guy within a year?" At Belldandy's nod, she continued. "Well, the same holds true for him, right? If he marries another goddess within the year, he doesn't have to marry me!"

"That's nice, Neesan," Belldandy said cautiously. "But wouldn't Moder simply find another to marry you?"

"She had a hard enough time finding someone the first time!" Urd told her. "Who knows how long it would take her to find a replacement?!"

Belldandy looked a little sad at this.

"What?"

"Well," the middle Norn began tentatively. "Neesan... That doesn't speak very well of you."

She waved the idea aside. "Who gives a royal crap about what they think of me in Heaven?"

"I see," she said. "But how will you get Nyd to marry someone else?" She looked from side to side as if she were about to disclose a great secret. "Neesan... I think he likes you."

Urd ignored this last part and smiled. "I'm going to hook him up with Peorth," she announced.

At this, Belldandy came alive, rushing to block the door so Urd couldn't leave.

"No! Neesan, you mustn't!"

"What are you talking about?!" Urd asked in annoyance. "It's perfect!"

Belldandy shook her head, panic in her eyes. "Neesan, please! It's too soon! The wound in Peorth's heart is still open and raw! The time will come when she'll be ready to allow another to enter it, but if you rush it, they'll only both end up hurt! It's not worth it!"

"My freedom isn't worth a little inconvenience for them?" Urd asked her angrily.

"NO, it's not!" Belldandy shot back. "You would hurt Peorth this way!? She's your friend!"

Urd bit her lip as Belldandy's words sunk in.

"Even if they were compatible," Belldandy continued. "To push them together now... so soon after Wynn san's death... will only leave Peorth conflicted. She'll feel that she's betraying his memory. You know how deeply she loved him, it would tear her apart!"

"Fine," Urd hissed. She grinned. "I'll simply find someone else."

888

"Okay, I'm here, what's the big emergency?!" Megumi asked as Urd opened the front door. The Norn grabbed her hand and dragged her through the house. "Hey! Urd! What's going on?!"

"There's someone I want you to meet!" Urd told her as she dragged her toward the living room.

"What?!"

They found Nyd working on his holotop. Seeing a strange mortal enter the room, he shut the computer down and rose to his feet.

"Nyd," Urd began with a smile. "This is my good friend, Megumi Morisato, Keiichi's little sister. Megumi, this is _Doctor_ Nyd..."

"Oh," Nyd said, a little confused by Urd's suddenly friendly behavior. "How do you do?" he asked with a bow.

"Nice to meetcha," Megumi said. "So are you related or something?"

"No," Urd jumped in first. "Nyd is new in town. He's spent the last few years treating sick people in Angola."

Nyd blinked at the praise. Maybe Belldandy was right, and Urd was warming up to him. After all, why else would she be showing him off to her friends?

"Yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"So you're with the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders or something like that?" Megumi asked.

"Something like that," he agreed.

"What brings you to Nekomi?" Megumi asked.

"Actually, Urd does..."

"Frigga came to visit for my birthday," Urd interrupted. "And Nyd came along," she explained.

"Cool," Megumi said.

"You know what?!" Urd suddenly asked as if a wonderful idea just struck her. "You should show him around Nekomi! You know the area so much better than I do!"

Megumi arched an eyebrow at this.

"That's not really necessary," Nyd told her. "I'd much rather st..."

"Nonsense! How many times do you get to see Nekomi, Japan?!"

"Um..."

"I don't mind," Megumi said with a shrug. "Sounds like fun."

"Well..."

"Tell you what," Megumi said with a smile. "You think about it. I have class in an hour anyway."

"Sure," Nyd told her.

Urd walked her out of the temple.

"Well?" Urd asked with a sly smile.

"He's cute!" Megumi gushed. Her face suddenly turned deadly serious. "What's wrong with him?"

"What?! Nothing! He's perfectly normal..."

"Uh huh. C'mon, Urd. What's the deal?"

Urd rolled her eyes. "My stepmother is trying to set me up with him, and to be honest I need someone to take the heat off me." It was as good a story as any with the added benefit of being mostly true.

Megumi arched another eyebrow. "He's a doctor?"

Urd smiled and nodded.

"If he's so great, why aren't you taking him?"

"Uh... Well..."

"I knew it," Megumi sighed. "So what is it? Date rapist or stamp collection?"

"No! He's not! And he doesn't have a stamp collection... I think..." Urd argued. "He's great! Really! Ask Belldandy if you don't believe me!"

Megumi simply shrugged. "Okay, Urd. I'll take him out. I've got nothing to lose but my afternoon."

"Excellent!"

"But you pay," Megumi told her.

"Damn!"

888

The local news played on the television, but Frigga wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were squinting at the holo-top in her lap, not even looking up as Peorth entered the room.

"Odd," she breathed.

"What?" Peorth asked as she stepped into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.

"The Market dipped two points," Frigga told her, honestly puzzled. Of course, she wasn't referring to the NYSE. The Market displayed what shares of Creation Heaven controlled and what shares the demon realm owned. It wasn't unusual for it to be in flux depending on who made deals with whom or who was granted wishes and why.

Peorth re-entered the room and shrugged. "A two point dip is nothing substantial," she said.

"Agreed," Frigga conceded. "But we were projecting a two point rise."

The love goddess shrugged again. The Market was fickle. She took a sip of tea and nearly spat it out as her eyes caught the TV.

"Turn it up!" she cried suddenly, diving for the remote.

Frigga looked up quickly and saw a young woman's picture floating next to the news anchor's head. She appeared to be asleep or unconscious.

As the volume rose, the anchor's words could be made out.

"...olice are asking for anyone with information on the young woman's identity to step forward," the anchor said. "Once again, this young foreign woman was found unconscious in Chiiba City last night with no identification and dressed as if she were attending a costume party."

"Jethsemanie," Peorth breathed.

"Doctors at Chiiba Memorial have not been able to rouse the young woman. If you have any information that could help investigators, please call The Crime Line at..."

Peorth tuned them out. Frigga looked at her. "You know this young woman, child?"

"She's a goddess," Peorth told her. "One of my coworkers at the Earth Help Center. A granter."

"We must help her then!" Frigga declared.

"There's something not right about this," Peorth told her. "Madame Frigga, may I use your holo-top for a moment?"

"Of course." She handed the computer to Peorth, who immediately logged into Heaven's intranet. The Earth Help Center's database was supposed to be secure, but Peorth, with her technical background working with Yggdrasil, had long ago made a backdoor for herself. She logged in and looked at the granting schedule. Sure enough, Jethsemanie had been sent on a standard granting last night and hadn't reported in.

She opened her email and sent a quick note to Freya.

_**Madame,**_

_**I just saw Jethsemanie on the local news. Something has happened to her. I'm investigating.**_

_**Peorth**_

She closed the holo-top and offered it back to Frigga.

"What will you do, child?" Frigga asked.

"I'm going to Chiiba City," she answered.

888

Frigga wasted no time in assembling everyone into the kitchen to discuss Peorth's discovery and what should be done next. The only non-deity in the room, Keiichi felt a little out of place and contented himself with listening to the goddesses speak.

"And she hasn't regained consciousness at all?" Nyd asked.

"Not according to the report I saw," Peorth answered.

"Odd," he said. "Then again, mortals wouldn't know how to treat a wounded goddess. We should hurry," he implored.

"There's something else, though," Urd said from the other side of the table. "You said the report said she was found, no one brought her to the hospital. If she was granting a wish..."

"She would have appeared directly into the home of the wisher," Belldandy finished. "And they would have to have been home to make the phone call."

"So _someone_ knows what happened to her," Keiichi felt comfortable injecting.

Urd nodded. "Do you know where that goddess was going?" she asked Peorth.

"I can find out through the intranet," Peorth replied.

"We should divide our resources," Frigga announced.

For the first time in days, Urd agreed with her stepmother. "Keiichi and I will go to Chiiba and try to find the wisher," she said. "You know that town, right?"

Keiichi nodded. "Yeah, I know the area well enough. Used to be the Auto Club had to go there because it was the closest town with a strip..." He faltered as Belldandy blinked at him and quickly finished. "...mall," he finished. "There was a strip mall there. Good for picking up... um... jeans... and such..."

Urd rolled her eyes. "Loverboy here and I will check it out. You guys go to the hospital and see what you can do for Jethsemanie."

"So let's go already!" Skuld cried.

"Not you, young lady," Frigga told her. "You stay here..."

"You should stay too," Urd told her. Frigga looked up at her in shock, but her stepdaughter didn't back down. "If something _is _happening, you'll be the first goddess they call here, and this is the first number they'll try."

Seeing the logic in this, Frigga nodded dejectedly.

"If we're going to search the hospital, we're going to need to blend in," Nyd told them.

888

Keiichi emerged from his room holding a folded piece of paper in his hand. "Street map of Chiiba!" he announced. "I knew I had one!"

"Bon," Peorth said as she and Belldandy entered from the other room.

The college student's eyes went wide as he stood there, frozen to the spot in awe. Belldandy and Peorth were both wearing white nurse's uniforms, and for a moment, Keiichi thought he might be in need of medical assistance...

"Keiichi?" Belldandy asked, waving her hand in front of his eyes. "Keiichi? Are you all right?"

He swallowed and managed to squeak out a "Yeah." Clearing his throat and shaking his head, he managed to do better. "Yeah, I'm just... Um... Just... Just don't throw that outfit away, okay?" he whispered.

Confused, Belldandy nodded. "All right."

"Keiichi!" Urd called from outside. "Are we rolling or what?"

"Gotta go," Keiichi told his girlfriend as he backed toward the front door, doing everything possible to let his gaze linger on her.

"Keiichi," Belldandy called after him.

"Yeah?" he replied, stopping in the doorway.

She rushed up to him and kissed him passionately. "Until later," she whispered to him. "I love you."

He felt woozy. "I love you too," he managed, knowing that if he didn't walk out of that house right then, they'd have to carry him out. He turned and left.

Belldandy watched him go and heard the Beemer's engine turn over.

"Sounds like you made quite the impression," Peorth told her with a smile. While their uniforms were nearly identical, Peorth wore her skirt a little tighter and shorter than Belldandy did.

"Did I?" Belldandy asked.

Nyd, wearing a white labcoat and with a stethoscope around his neck, stepped into the room. "Okay, I think I'm ready," he said.

"You had less to put on than we did," Peorth huffed. "You're just now ready?"

"I have more equipment," he said with a shrug. "What good is it going to do for me to see your friend if I can't do anything for her?"

"All right," Peorth said dismissively. "Let's just get going."

888

Chiiba City was only 45 minutes from Nekomi on the expressway, but it was a silent 45 minutes, both from the wind whipping over them and from a seeming reluctance on Urd's part to chit chat.

Keiichi glanced over at her, sitting in the sidecar, as he took the offramp into the suburbs of Chiiba.

As they rolled up to a red light, Keiichi decided to try to break the ice. "So..." he began.

"I'm fine, I just hate my stepmother," Urd replied quickly.

"Um... what?"

"You were about to ask me how I was doing," Urd explained, looking up at him. "Weren't you?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Well, there you go."

The light turned green, and they started down a residential street.

"Belldandy mentioned you had a plan," he called over the engine noise. "You're not going to kill this guy in his sleep, are you?"

"Didn't work last night," Urd mumbled before raising her voice to answer. "No. Look, it's not like I hate _him_. I hate what he represents; the unilateral revocation of my freedom. So, yeah... I've been kind of... well..."

"Bitchy?" he asked.

Her eyebrow twitched. "I was going to say, 'irritable,'" she growled just loud enough for him to hear. She sighed. "But yeah, I guess 'bitchy' is true..."

She looked at him guiltily. "I set him up with your sister," she admitted, bracing for a lecture.

Instead, he nodded. "Good."

"You're not mad?"

He threw her a smile. "Nyd seems like a good guy, just a little uncomfortable around girls. Shoot, he sounds just like me three years ago. Megumi would be good for him, and, honestly... I think he'd be good for Megumi."

"What?"

Keiichi shrugged. "Megumi's young and she's on her own for the first time," he said. "I mean she's mature for her age, and I don't think she'd ever get into trouble by not thinking things through first, but... I'm a big brother. I worry. I feel better about her going out with a guy like Nyd than I would a guy like Aoshima or heck... most of the Auto Club."

Urd digested that. She had spent so much time trying to get rid of Nyd, it hadn't occurred to her that it wouldn't be as difficult a job as she might think.

She shook the thought aside and pointed out the next turn.

"Right on Fifth," she said.

"Yokai!" Keiichi said, turning the bike.

888

The address Peorth gave them turned out to be a two-story apartment building in a run-down area of Chiiba. Keiichi parked the bike across the street, and the two looked at it for a moment.

"College student," Keiichi concluded as he dismounted.

"How can you tell?" Urd asked as he helped her out of the side-car.

"Because no one with a full-time job would live in a place like this on purpose," he told her. "Guy probably lives on ramen and shares a bathroom with sixty people. Come on."

They climbed the stairs to the second floor and looked for Apartment 21. Finding it, Urd reached up knocked.

"Who is it?" a scared-sounding voice asked from the other side.

"Chiiba PD!" Urd called back before Keiichi could stop her.

They heard a lock turn and the door opened slowly. A young man peeked through, saw Urd, and quickly slammed the door shut again.

"Damn!" Urd cried. "He _must_ know something! If we can find a TV, I can..."

Before she could finish, Keiichi had backed up several steps and ran full tilt for the door, crashing into it with his shoulder and knocking it open.

With a newfound respect for her would-be brother-in-law, Urd rushed in after him.

"Stay back!" the young man screamed, holding a steak knife in front of him as if he were brandishing a samurai sword. "I did what you wanted! Leave me alone!"

"Calm down," Keiichi told him, his hands up in an attempt to appear nonthreatening... for a guy who just busted his door down, that is...

The boy, who looked no older than Keiichi, shook in his boots as he looked at Urd's silver hair and Keiichi's demonic red eye.

"Just leave me alone!" he screamed, rushing forward.

Keiichi brought his hands up in a last minute attempt to protect himself, but ended up grunting as he felt the burning of hard steel entering his chest.


	5. Bad Medicine

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. Special thanks again to my prereaders, WillZ and Sethra.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Bad Medicine**_

* * *

**"I told the priest, 'don't count on any second coming!'**

**God got his ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming!**

**He had the balls to come, the gall to die and then forgive us!**

**No, I don't wonder why, I wonder what he thought it would get us?"**

_Concrete Blonde_

_"Tomorrow, Wendy"_

* * *

The three deities stepped off the train and onto the Chiiba City main platform, leaving behind them a significant number of male train riders wishing they were going to the hospital.

Chiiba Memorial was only two blocks away from the station, and Peorth, Belldandy and Nyd started for the exit. They were almost to the main stairwell when Belldandy suddenly cried out and fell to her knees.

"Keiichi!" she cried, her hand going to her chest.

"Belldandy!?" Peorth called out, kneeling next to her. "What is it?!"

"I don't know yet!" Belldandy replied. She closed her eyes. _Neesan!? _She called in her mind. _Neesan!? What's happening?_ _Is Keiichi all right?!_

There was a panic-filled minute that followed which Belldandy spent imagining every possible way Keiichi might be hurt. She had to fight the urge to fly to him. Urd was with him. She trusted her sister to keep her lover from harm.

Finally, she heard her sister's voice in her head.

_Everything's fine..._

888

Urd knelt over Keiichi, who was fighting back screams of agony and looking down at the steak knife protruding from his left pec, near the shoulder. On the other side of the room, World of Elegance was floating between them and the boy, guarding him. When the boy stabbed Keiichi, Urd had to divide her attention, so she sent World of Elegance to "subdue" the attacker while she tended to her brother-in-law. When the young man saw her angel, he started sobbing, falling to his knees and begging her over and over...

"Forgive me," he sobbed. "I didn't want to..."

Urd knew there was a bigger story here, but first she had to tend to Keiichi. Of course, as if she wasn't busy enough, Belldandy's frantic voice began pinging around the inside of her head.

_Neesan?! Neesan?! What's happening?! Is Keiichi all right?!_

"Belldandy's in my head," she told Keiichi as she examined the wound. "She's worried about you."

The racer gritted his teeth between gasps. "Tell her I'm fine," he growled out.

She smiled, simultaneously happy for her sister and jealous of her luck. _Everything's fine. He's fine, the crybaby,_ she sent back. _Tripped on the sidewalk and scraped his knee._

To him, she said, "I'm going to pull it out. It's going to hurt."

"Gee, there's a switch!" he gasped out.

_Are you sure?!_ Belldandy sent to her.

_You know Keiichi,_ Urd replied in as casual a tone as she could think as her fingers wrapped around the knife's handle. _One little scrape and he's like a little boy with a boo boo..._

She winced sympathetically and jerked the knife out of his shoulder with one quick movement. Keiichi screamed in pain and slammed his fist on the hard-wood floor as blood started gushing from the wound. Urd quickly placed her palms over the wound and applied pressure.

_Neesan! It doesn't feel like nothing! He's in pain! I'm coming there now!_

_Don't bother, Sis, really. He's fine. I promise._

Urd began channeling healing energy into the college student, simultaneously accelerating his metabolism to heal the wound faster. The flow of blood stopped as the blue glow from her hands sealed the gash.

"How you doing, Keiichi?" she asked.

"It's not my best day," he choked out.

_Neesan!?_

_Keiichi says to tell you he's fine,_ she sent back. _I'm sure he's already thinking up ways to milk this with you once he gets home._

_Are you absolutely cer..._

_He's fine!_ Urd projected with heat. _Don't you have something you should be doing?_

She shook her head. "Where's Nyd when you actually need him?"

Keiichi's breathing began to slow to a more normal rate, and the color returned to his cheeks. He looked up at Urd and let out a breath. "I think I'm good," he said.

Urd released the pressure slowly. "You sure?"

"Yeah," he replied, already sitting up. "I'm okay."

The Norn sighed in relief. "Don't do that to me, okay?" she asked. "You think I want to be the one to tell Belldandy something happened to you?"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with his left hand... only to get blood in hair. "Oh..."

Simultaneously, they turned toward the boy, who was still begging World of Elegance to forgive him, and both of them were sure he wasn't talking about stabbing Keiichi.

888

"Belldandy?" Peorth asked gently.

The middle Norn breathed a sigh. "He's fine," she said resolutely. "Neesan will protect him."

"Do you want to try to make our way to them?" Nyd asked.

She shook her head. "Neesan is right. We have something we need to do just as they do."

"Are you sure?" Peorth asked.

"Hai."

They took that as the final word on the matter and made their way down the stairs to the street. A short walk later, and they were walking through the glass doors of Chiiba Memorial. The hospital was ten stories high and busy nonstop. The first thing that struck them was the number of doctors, nurses and patients milling around the main lobby.

"So how do we find her?" Peorth asked.

Nyd looked at the directory. "Hard to say. We should try to keep a low profile though. Let's split up."

The two goddesses nodded and started off in different directions. Nyd went up the middle, down the hall toward the elevator.

888

The boy was sobbing, blubbering the words, "I'm sorry," over and over again as World of Elegance looked down at him. Finally, the angel descended and reached out, wrapping her arms around the young man.

Keiichi rubbed his still-aching chest and watched, standing next to Urd, who wasn't quite ready to interrogate or rough the kid up yet.

"I'm so sorry," the boy said. "They threatened my sister in Kyushu, they even had her address! I had to..."

"Had to what?" Urd asked.

For the first time, the boy's eyes found her. "I thought you were them," he said. "But when I saw her..." He nodded to World of Elegance. "I knew you were like the other girl..."

It clicked in Urd's mind. "This isn't the first angel you've seen," she concluded.

The boy swallowed. "They came to me yesterday. A tall man... with a blue eye... and two... things... They looked like shadows..." He nervously ran his fingers through his hair. "Said that if I did what he told me to do, they wouldn't have to pay Fujiko a visit. I thought they were gangsters or something, that they wanted me to hold drugs for them, something like that. Instead, they... they just told me to use the phone."

He looked at them in puzzlement. "They didn't even tell me who to call, they just said to dial some numbers and not to speak. So I did, and this girl answered, said she'd be right there." He licked his dry, cracked lips and shook his head. "I didn't know who she was or why she was coming or anything! And then... She... She just _appeared_ out of the painting my mom gave me and..." He looked down at the floor, tears in his eyes.

"Then what?" Urd asked gently.

World of Elegance offered him a comforting smile and nodded at him. The boy continued.

"Then this... this _thing_... came up behind her and attacked her!" he blubbered. "And that's when... when..." He gestured to World of Elegance. "When she appeared over the girl, trying to protect her, and the _thing_... it..." He shook his head. "I mean... I'm not naive, you know, I've seen a lot of brutal horror movies and..." His voice cracked. "I mean it _slaughtered_ her!"

"The angel?" Urd asked. "It killed the _angel_?!"

"You sound like that shouldn't happen," Keiichi whispered.

"It shouldn't!" Urd replied. "I mean there's a reason why angel-eaters are such a big deal, and why we go out of our way to keep their numbers down."

"You think it's another angel eater?" Keiichi asked.

Urd quickly described the creature to the boy, but he shook his head before she was even finished. "No, this thing... I mean this thing was straight out of a John Carpenter movie, you know? Black... with wings and these... these _teeth_!"

"Okay, then what?" Urd asked.

"Well... the girl just fell over like she was dead, but... I don't think she was." He shook his head. "The guy picked her up and just left. I saw her on the news today, but I just couldn't... I mean what if they thought it was me? I mean what cop is going to believe a story like that?!"

Urd blinked. "I don't get it," she said. "Why take her away? Why not just leave her?"

Keiichi nodded as his extensive knowledge of TV crime dramas came into play. "Because if this guy took her to the hospital, they wouldn't need to identify her. If they just found her..."

"...they'd have to put her on the news," Urd finished in a whisper. "They _wanted_ us to see her."

888

Peorth emerged from the elevator on the fourth floor and started down the hall, already getting the feeling she was in the wrong place. So far she had passed several patients, and not a one of them was under the age of 65. She had a feeling she was in geriatrics.

Still, she wanted to make sure. They might have stuck Jethsemanie on this floor just to throw reporters off. She started poking her head in doors, checking each one systematically.

She paused as she heard a soft whirring sound. A moment later it stopped. She arched an eyebrow.

"Etrange..." she whispered, shaking her head and continuing on. A moment later she heard it again.

The love goddess stopped. She turned and saw old men in motorized wheelchairs sitting in the hallway behind her. Aside from that, nothing. She turned and started on her way again.

_Whiiiiirrrrrrrrrr..._

She turned suddenly, and this time there were three old men, staring at her.

Peorth started to sweat uncomfortably. It was time to go. Turning, she started toward the elevator. The sound of electric wheelchairs followed her.

She walked a little faster, and the whirring increased in pitch as the old men tried to keep up.

"Pervers!" she cried as she broke into a run toward the elevator.

Behind her, six old men who hadn't seen a woman like Peorth in ages rolled after her.

888

Nyd turned the corner and checked the next three rooms, all of which were empty. Moving on, he suddenly found himself in a small waiting area, empty except for a lone, middle-aged woman sitting in the corner, crying softly to herself, and an unkept young man with long hair.

The otherworldly doctor looked up and down the hall for a moment, seeing if anyone was going to see the woman, then moved toward her.

"Excuse me," he began gently. The woman looked up at him with puffy, grief-stricken eyes. "Have you been seen?"

She nodded.

"May I ask?" he continued.

The woman bit her lip as if trying not to mention it, as if saying it would make it more true than it already was.

"Malignant breast cancer," she choked out.

"Oh," he breathed. He rooted through the pockets in his lab coat and walked toward a water cooler. Pouring a cup, he walked back and handed her two pills and the cup of water.

"Take those," he said. "Drink the whole cup of water, and don't try to stand up for twenty minutes, okay?"

The woman, confused, simply nodded, swallowing the pills without question.

As Nyd turned to leave, the other man spoke up.

"Don't suppose you got anything for AIDS," he said with a slight chuckle.

Nyd rooted through his coat and pulled out a bottle of pills. Examining the label, he narrowed his eyes. "AIDS or HIV?" he asked.

888

Belldandy stepped out of the elevator on the seventh floor and looked down either end of the hallway before randomly choosing to go right. Her thoughts once again flew to Keiichi, and she hoped he was all right. Urd insisted he was, and she trusted her sister... mostly...

The hall curved left, and she suddenly found herself at the entrance to a large room with several tiny beds. Blinking she entered it and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The lights in this room were set much lower than the ones in the hall.

She wondered where she might be until she saw a tiny hand emerge from one of the beds. Blinking, she rushed over and looked down. Suddenly, her hands went to her face and she squealed in delight.

_Babies! They're so adorable!_

Unfortunately, her squeal at the cuteness of the babies around her woke several of them up. The newborns began to cry, waking others.

"Oh!" she cried guiltily. "Don't cry!" she begged. She ran to the nearest crying baby and picked it up, gently rocking it.

All around her, more and more babies began to wake up and cry for its mother. The Norn rushed from bassinet to bassinet, soothing each child in turn.

888

Urd scooped up some noodles and shoved them into her mouth. Sitting next to her at the noodle stand, Keiichi paid the noodle guy, who was looking at his blood-stained shirt in puzzled awe. The college student saw the look on the guy's face and cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"You should see the other guy," he said simply.

The noodle seller simply shook his head and went to the next customer.

"Do you think they wanted you specifically to see it?" Keiichi asked. "I mean you, Belldandy and Skuld?"

"I don't know," Urd told him. "Whatever it means, it can't be good."

"Well, Frigga's a big-wig up in Heaven, right?" he asked. "She'll know what to do."

Urd shrugged. "Seems to be her thing, lately."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, but you solved the problem, right?"

She tapped her chopsticks against the counter anxiously and finally turned to him. "Okay, we both swear to never mention the next five minutes to Belldandy or anyone else, okay?"

He shrugged. "All right. You're not going to try to marry me again, are you?"

She sighed. "Yeah... I'm sorry about that..."

His lips pursed in concern. Urd was usually the free spirit of the group. Seeing her like this, so unsure of herself, wasn't right.

"Okay," he said. "The next five minutes are in the vault. Go ahead."

"Am I a bad catch?" she asked suddenly.

"Huh?!"

"Don't get me wrong, Keiichi, I'm not asking if you think I'm pretty or any kind of narcissistic, self-centered crap like that," she replied. "I mean overall, in the sense of a long-term relationship, am I a bad catch? A poisoned pill?"

He laughed. "I thought your problem was the exact opposite!"

She sighed in disgust. "It's a lot of things. Just answer the question."

Keiichi shrugged. "I don't think so. I mean, you're not everyone's cup of tea. It just depends on what a guy is looking for in a relationship."

"You mean like you were looking for Belldandy?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well... yeah," he answered. He shoved some noodles into his mouth and gave the question more thought. He swallowed and continued. "I mean, some people are attracted to opposites and some people want someone just like them."

"So what makes me appealing as a potential mate?" she asked.

He cleared his throat. "You mean aside from your... um... physical qualifications?"

"I know I'm hot, Keiichi, that's a given," she told him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Okay," he said. "You're protective of your loved ones... sometimes dangerously so," he added. "Of the three of you, you're probably the most level-headed. I don't know," he finally gave up.

"Okay, then let me turn the question around," she said. "What kind of guy would want a goddess like me?"

"I don't know, Urd," he said. "Why don't you ask Nyd?"

"That's not funny," she muttered.

"I'm not laughing. I think he's got a little crush on you. He doesn't seem nearly as ticked off about this as you are."

She sighed.

"At the risk of getting beaten up," Keiichi began slowly. "Have you thought about giving him a chance?"

"I'm not marrying him," she said, putting her foot down.

"I didn't say marry him," he told her. "But have you actually talked to him? Who knows? Maybe he'll surprise you."

"He's such a nerd," Urd sighed.

"He's a good guy, and isn't that what women are constantly complaining about?" he asked. "'Where are all the good guys? There are no more nice men anymore.' Well, let me tell you, as a nice guy who heard that crap all through high school and some college, we're out there if you bother to look. It's just harder to see us when we're scared of being barbecued..."

She sighed again and shoved some more noodles into her mouth.

888

It didn't take much effort for Peorth to find Nyd again. After finally losing the geriatric perverts, she passed an orderly and two security guards talking about, "some quack handing out pills for every disease in the world," on the second floor. When she arrived, she found Nyd at the end of a long line of people waiting to see the miracle doctor.

"I have melanoma!" someone cried.

"Take three of these!" he called back as a pill bottle arced through the air.

"I'm bald!" someone else called out.

"Oooh..." Nyd said slowly. "Sorry... Even we have limits to our power..."

She elbowed her way to the front of the line and grabbed Nyd by the forearm. "Don't you have something else you should be doing, Docteur?" she hissed. She turned to the crowd. "The docteur is out!" she called out to them, receiving a stream of boos and hisses in reply. "Come on!"

Peorth dragged the doctor down the hall and into an elevator.

"What were you thinking?!" she hissed at him angrily. "Security was on their way to arrest you!"

"Arrest me for what? Helping people?" he replied bitterly. "It was just some pro bono work."

She rubbed her temples.

"We're required to be proactive," he told, hands folded over his chest. "It's simply what we do." He blinked as he remembered something. "But the good news is, I think I know where your friend is."

"Where?!"

"I overheard some people in line talking about the 'mystery lady' up on the ninth floor."

"Formidable!" she cried. "Let's find Belldandy and get up there!"

They had to search two floors before they found where the Norn had gotten to. What they saw when they finally found her floored them.

She was standing in the middle of the nursery with three newborns precariously balanced in her arms, singing to them softly the same melody she often sang to the trees outside the temple. The babies were sleeping, lulled by the goddess's singing. They watched as she gently put them in their bassinets and picked up two others.

Peorth's eyebrow twitched. "Remind me to warn Keiichi," she asked Nyd. "I think Belldandy has a case of baby rabies..."

She cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered as loud as she dared. "Belldandy!"

The Norn looked up and saw them standing there. She offered a sheepish smile and gently placed the babies back into their beds, shushing them as they crankily fought her.

"Come on!" Peorth hissed impatiently.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Belldandy whispered as she tip-toed out of the baby ward. Once the door was sealed behind them, Peorth shook her head and led them toward the elevator.

"It's like hanging out with my sister's kids," she muttered angrily.

888

"Alara has turned up missing as well," the goddess on the other side of the webcam told her.

Frigga regarded the face on the holo-top with a sinking, cold feeling in her soul. "So has Otohime," she said. "Freya, three goddesses going off the grid at the same time can be no coincidence."

Freya nodded. "At first, I had hoped Jethsemanie and Alara were merely researching their client's wishes." She smiled wanly. "It's become chic ever since your daughter met that mortal. More and more granters are starting to emulate her." Her expression darkened again. "But my two plus your one... It means nothing good."

"I've alerted Commander Lind," Freya continued. "She said she would 'look into it.' In the meantime, what can we do?"

"We can suspend granting operations," Frigga told her.

"Do you realize how many shares will be lost?" Freya asked her.

"Our granters could be facing an unknown threat and you're talking about shares?" Frigga asked incredulously.

"Don't give me that!" Freya snapped. "We're not talking about the NASDAQ! Every soul we lose influence over, the demons take for themselves! And the demons will not just relent and let us take a time-out!"

"Our girls did not sign up to take these kinds of risks," Frigga told her.

"Our goddesses serve Heaven," Freya reminded her. "Some have given their lives for it."

"That doesn't make it a requirement," Frigga shot back.

"We stop, Frigga, and the demons gain ground," Freya told her slowly, trying to make it as simple as possible. "And it's not like we can go and get it back once things are safer."

The two paused for a moment. "I will ask for volunteers," Freya said finally. "I don't know why I should bother, though. I can't think of a single one of my girls who would fail to step forward. I recommend you do the same."

Frigga bit her lip. She would have to give the idea some thought.

"Good luck, Frigga." The face disappeared.

The queenly goddess slammed the holo-top shut and leaned against the table, trying to figure out what to do next. So engrossed with her thoughts, she nearly missed her youngest daughter passing through the dining room on wobbly legs and looking... taller... somehow.

She blinked and turned, watching as Skuld entered the kitchen. Frigga heard the freezer door open and shut and stood up, walking into the kitchen after her.

Sure enough, Skuld was at least two inches taller. The young goddess was scooping ice cream into a bowl while trying to keep her balance. Frigga shook her head in disbelief.

"Skuld?" she asked tentatively. "Honey... Are you wearing high heels?"

Caught, the young goddess blushed. "Um... Yeah. Peorth said I need to practice."

"Practice?" Frigga asked.

"Yeah... I... um... have a date Saturday... with a boy..."

"I would hope so," Frigga remarked on this last point.

"So Peorth is helping me," Skuld finished.

"Well," Frigga said with a smile. "You're in good hands, ne?"

At that moment, Skuld wobbled and nearly fell over. "Mostly, yeah..."

888

When they finally found her, she was sharing a room with an elderly woman sipping at some chicken soup in the next bed. Nyd pulled the curtain completely around the bed, giving them some privacy.

Peorth leaned over the sleeping goddess. "Jethsemanie?" she whispered. "Can you hear me?"

The goddess didn't even twitch. Peorth looked at the EKG monitor but knew that was useless. The readings were skewed high, typical for a goddess being read by mortal equipment.

"Docteur?" she asked Nyd.

Nyd pulled on a pair of blue latex gloves that glowed faintly with a soft blue light. "Stand back a bit," he ordered. Holding his hands above Jethsemanie's body, he closed his eyes and made a lifting motion. In response, a model of Jethsemanie's body made from light and shadow emerged from the unconscious goddess and floated a foot above her.

The god doctor flicked his fingers from side to side, and cross-sections of various parts of Jethsemanie's body moved to the side, displaying everything from the condition of her spirit to the length of her fingernails. He looked at the readings and growled at not finding anything. He snapped his fingers and the model turned nearly transparent, glowing blue in some areas, red in others.

"Well?" Peorth asked in hushed tones.

"Physically, she's okay," he said. He snapped his fingers again, and the model turned yellow. His eyes narrowed. "How old is she?"

"Seven hundred, forty in mortal years," Peorth told him.

He shook his head and snapped his fingers again. The model turned green. "Where's her angel?" he whispered.

"What?"

"I can see every aspect of her, spiritual, physical and emotional," he told her. "But I'm not seeing her angel. I assume she had one."

"Of course!"

"Then where is it?" he asked her.

"An angel eater?" Belldandy asked.

"An angel eater leaves signs of damage in the surrounding spiritual bonds," Nyd told her, pointing at areas around Jethsemanie's back. He pulled his hands back toward his face, and the area between the models shoulder blades zoomed closer.

"Weird," he breathed.

"What?" Belldandy asked.

He ignored her and moved to the model's head. "Almighty in Heaven," he said. "Her higher mind is gone."

"Meaning?"

"When a god takes an angel, the angel takes over the higher forms of that god's mind and spirit, augmenting them, but the relationship is symbiotic, and the connection cannot be severed completely... Until now, anyway."

"What are you saying?" Peorth asked, pushing closer to him. "That Jethsemanie's angel..."

"Is dead," he whispered in disbelief. "No angel eater did this. Even when an eater takes an angel or an angel temporarily accepts another host, there is still some small tendril of connectivity. It's not enough to sustain consciousness, but..." He shook his head again. "There is _nothing_ here. Nothing! Her higher functions are simply gone!"

Belldandy looked at him in horror. "What can kill an angel?"

Peorth went still, her mind flashing back to her last glimpse of Lucky Jack, Wynn's angel.

"Peorth?"

She shook herself free of the thought. "Oui?"

"What do you want to do?" Nyd repeated.

She bit her lip. "Can you do anything for her here?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No."

"We could try to sneak her out of the hospital," Belldandy offered. "Bring her to the temple."

"Where we would still be able to do nothing," Nyd told her. "Actually, until Heavenly authorities can intervene, this is probably the best place for her. The mortals can't cure her... Almighty, _we_ can't even cure her... But they'll watch out for her."

"Merde," Peorth whispered, shaking her head. "Okay," she said. "I'll report back to Freya." She leaned over and gently kissed Jethsemanie on the forehead. "I'll be back for you," she whispered. To the others, she said, "Let's go."

Nyd removed the gloves, and the model disappeared while Belldandy pulled the curtain back. She offered the old woman a smile as they filed out the door.

The old woman watched them leave and began to glow with a soft red light. Putting her soup aside, she nimbly hopped off the bed even as her body changed, becoming taller and thinner. By the time her boots hit the ground, the glow was gone.

Carestia regarded the door and smiled.

888

Keiichi was pulling off his blood-stained shirt even as he walked through the door and tossing it in the hamper.

"I'm taking a bath," he muttered tiredly.

Following behind him, Urd smiled devilishly. "Want company?"

He gave her a tired look. "Urd..."

"I just meant I'll be sure to send Belldandy in when she gets home," she said innocently. "Probably want to wash that first, though," she said, pointing at the scar and dried blood on his chest.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Talk to Frigga first." She yawned and stretched. "Then who knows?"

888

Keiichi had finished his bath and dressed by the time Belldandy, Peorth and Nyd returned with their story about Jethsemanie. Seated around the kitchen table, they listened as Nyd gave his prognosis and Urd told them what the boy in Chiiba had said, omitting the part where he stabbed Keiichi.

"Then it fits," Frigga said, lacing her fingers together in front of her. "Something killed her angel. Something... hideous."

"Here's what I want to know," Urd said. "Whoever is behind it zeroed in on this kid _before_ he was approached. How did they know who to go to?"

It was something Frigga hadn't considered. "Otohime," she whispered.

"What?" Peorth asked.

She looked at the love goddess with a haunted expression. "They did the same thing to Otohime and Alara. They knew."

Belldandy felt ice clutch her chest. "They have a copy of the Wish List," she said in a haunted whisper.

"The what?" Keiichi asked.

"It's a roster of who is entitled to Heaven's grace and when they're scheduled to be approached," Belldandy told him.

"'Making a list, checking it twice,'" Urd quoted. "You didn't think Santa Claus invented that, did you?"

"If they have a copy of the Wish List..." Peorth began.

"We don't even know who 'they' are," Belldandy pointed out.

"Oh, come on!" Urd cried. "It doesn't take a Nekomi Tech degree to figure it out!"

They blinked at her. Peorth was watching her very carefully, almost nervously.

"You didn't notice how happy she looked last night?" Urd asked. "Megalomaniacal bitch was chit-chatting with us while her Elites were _killing our friends!_"

"Technically, they're not dead," Nyd pointed out.

"And that's just _so_ like her!" Urd hissed at him. "It's brilliant! Kill the angel and you permanently incapacitate the god! The god's still breathing so _technically_ you don't violate Doublet! I just can't figure out how she _did it!_"

Peorth licked her lips but kept her gaze rooted at the table.

"It's even worse than that," Nyd spoke up hauntingly. "I've seen this kind of tactic used before. Kill an enemy and all you have left is a body. Maim him... and you leave behind a cripple, someone who has to be carried off the battlefield, who has to be cared for, who continues to eat up valuable supplies and resources but is unable to function. Those goddesses will never open their eyes again, but being who we are, we _will_ continue to care for them and sustain their lives _forever_. Imagine that on a larger scale."

Frigga shook her head. "It's insidious, cruel and simply straightforward evil. It has to be her."

She rose to her feet. "I must speak with Freya. She must be made aware."

"What will you do, Moder?" Belldandy asked softly.

The queen swallowed. "I cannot risk you girls to this kind of... monstrosity." She gathered her resolve and made an announcement. "I'm suspending wish granting. As of this moment, the Goddess Help Line is closed."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, Frigga walked out of the room.


	6. Fear

Disclaimer: AMG isn't mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Fear**_

* * *

**"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world."**

_Robert E. Lee _

_1864_

* * *

Summoned once again, he soon found himself in the personal chambers of his sovereign, curious to know what she would ask of him. As far as he knew, everything was going according to plan, but Hild's desires were often fickle. One moment, she would initiate sweeping changes to the way demons did business. A moment later, she would send a Hellrider to the Earth realm to pick up food from Taco Bell. She was, Metheus found, a capricious demoness ruled by her desires both great and small.

When he found her, she was standing at an easel, dabbing at a canvas with a paint brush, though he could not see what she was painting. He bowed to her.

Without looking up, she asked her questions. "I want an update," she announced. "Where do we stand?"

"Word came through this morning, Your Majesty," he rasped. "The Goddess Help Line has suspended their operations." He waited for some acknowledgment of this feat from her but received none. "However, the Earth Help Center continues to operate and has even volunteered to take the cases the Help Line has abandoned."

At this Hild nodded, her eyes still fixed on her painting. "Freya and I have similar outlooks," she told him. "She sees the market as I do, a continuation of the battlefield. She will not cede a single soul while it is in her power to resist." She dabbed some black paint on the canvas. "However, I'm sure we can use this to drive a wedge between her and Frigga. Go through the next target list. I want every goddess we hit to be those granting wishes the Help Line abandoned. I want Freya's goddesses to pay for Frigga's cowardice."

He bowed. "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

"Now," she drawled out, examining her painting closely. "About that errand I assigned you."

"I have not yet run it," he told her plainly.

She winced almost sympathetically. "This... upsets me."

"The timing is not yet right," he explained calmly. After everything he had been through, he was beyond fearing her threats. She could kill him. He acknowledged that. He belonged to her and she could do with him what she willed. It was simply the way things were.

"Timing?" she asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. We must not sacrifice the long-term plan for the sake of the short-term. Your plan for disrupting Heaven requires the fear of the unknown, the kind of terror that can only be inspired by an unknown enemy. If we move now, the odds of us being exposed to the gods are quite high. They will be able to identify the threat against them, and that is the first step toward defeating any adversary."

Hild digested this and finally nodded. "Once again, Inquisitor, I find your words to ring with unfortunate and inconvenient fact. Very well. But don't keep me waiting too long." She finally looked up at him and smiled. "After all, once I have Belldandy, we can get to work on getting your Peorth."

He bowed. "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

888

Belldandy hummed as she pulled clothes out of the hamper and separated them. With their trip to Chiiba yesterday afternoon, she didn't have a chance to do the laundry and wanted to get it done before it piled up or rained.

Her humming stopped and her face fell as her thoughts went to Otohime. The young goddess was just starting at the Goddess Help Line when Keiichi had made his wish. She remembered the angelic brunette as such a sweet young woman.

She took a breath and found her optimism. Nyd was already working on a cure. Surely he would succeed. In the meantime, her family was safe, and she had her Keiichi.

The goddess, sensing a new presence, turned and found her mother approaching. She smiled, hoping to bolster her mother's spirits. Belldandy knew that shutting down the Goddess Help Line must have been very difficult for her mother. It was the role she had played for nearly a thousand years.

"What did Ms. Freya say?" she asked as she put a shirt into the washer.

Frigga took a deep breath, trying to find a polite way to say that her rival at the Earth Help Center was wrong. "They will continue on," she said.

Belldandy looked down at the ground. "I see," she whispered.

"Freya must do what she thinks is right," Frigga told her. "Just as I must."

Belldandy continued sorting laundry. "What will you do now?"

The queenly goddess smiled. "I will remain here and spend time with my children, something I don't get a chance to do as often as I would like."

The Norn smiled. "Then this dark cloud does have a bright spot in it," she said.

"Now, tell me, child," Frigga began, moving toward a happier topic. "How are things between you and Keiichi? When I left last time I sensed that things were... progressing..." She grinned.

Belldandy blushed and concentrated on her chores. "I love him," she whispered.

"I knew that, Belldandy," Frigga told her. "Are you happy here with him?"

"Hai!" Belldandy gushed, holding one of his shirts close to her chest as she turned to her mother. "He wished for me to always be by his side, and I have no desire to ever leave it!"

Frigga turned thoughtful. "Just be careful, Belldandy," she cautioned. "A relationship with a mortal brings other, very real complications."

"Eh?" Belldandy blinked.

Frigga nodded at the shirt she was holding.

Belldandy looked down and found the shirt she was hugging was red with dried blood. Her eyes went wide.

"K...K...K...K... KEIICHI!!"

Like a shot, she bolted down the hall.

888

"Today, we are participating in a pre-prom ritual every young woman must go through," Peorth told Skuld as they walked down the hall toward Keiichi's room. "We're going to..."

"... sacrifice a virgin!" Skuld concluded, her fist held high in the air.

Peorth stopped and shook her head as if trying to expel something from her ears. "Non..." she said quietly. "I mean... of course, non..."

"Then what?"

"We are going shopping for your dress," she replied as they came to a stop at Keiichi's door. "But first, we need one key ingredient." She knocked twice.

Keiichi opened the door, his computer humming in the background. The college student was probably working on the schoolwork he'd been neglecting since Urd's party.

"Hey," he said. "What's going on?"

"Keiichi, I need some money," Peorth said simply, holding her hand out expectantly.

"Riiiiiiiiight," Keiichi drawled out, his expression one of frank indifference. "And what do you need my money for?"

"Feminine hygiene products!" Peorth told him frankly.

"GAH!" he cried, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and tossing it at her. "Here! Take it!"

"Merci," she said sweetly, leaning over to kiss his cheek. She took the cash that was in his wallet and handed it back. "Au revoir."

Skuld followed as Peorth started back down the hall. "Does that work on all guys?" she whispered.

"Typically, yes," Peorth told her. Before she could say more, Belldandy was flying past them at somewhere around Mach 2.

"KEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIII!!"

They turned just in time to see Belldandy fly through Keiichi's bedroom door.

"Should we... stay?" Skuld asked.

"Let's sit this one out," Peorth advised. The two started for the door again.

888

Keiichi sat down at his decrepit old computer and got back to work on his thermodynamics project. As much as it pained him to give up his hard-earned cash, if it meant keeping Peorth and Skuld out of the house long enough for him to finish his project in peace, it was well worth it.

He hadn't typed more than two or three words when his door suddenly exploded open and Belldandy came bounding inside.

"Be..." he managed to get out before she tackled him and straddled his legs. "BELLDANDY!" As she started tearing at his shirt, he suddenly wondered if his girlfriend had gone mad... in a good way.

"Belldandy!" he cried. "Your mom's just down the hall!"

She pulled his shirt off and stared down at the scar on his chest. It was at that point that Keiichi finally saw the bloody shirt in her hand and started to mentally kick himself for not just throwing it out.

"Belldandy," he whispered.

"Hey, what's..." Urd began, sticking her head through the door.

Belldandy turned on her like an enraged cobra. "You said he was okay!" she cried.

"He is okay!" Urd shot back defensively.

"Then what's this?!" she asked, holding the shirt up. "What's this?!" she repeated, pointing at the scar on his chest.

Urd bit her lip nervously. "Skinned knee?" she tried weakly.

Belldandy's gaze fell to the floor. "I should have been there," she said.

Keiichi looked up at her, feeling guilty about hiding the truth from Belldandy, but moreso about doing such a bad job at it. "Belldandy, it happened so fast, you wouldn't have been able to do anything different than what Urd did..."

"It doesn't matter," she whispered back. "My place was at your side. If anyone was supposed to heal you, it should have been me."

Urd smiled softly. "You can't protect him twenty-four hours a day," she said. "Things... happen."

She looked up at Urd, her expression grim. "It shouldn't happen to him," she said, rising to her feet. The goddess walked past her sister and out the door.

Urd turned to Keiichi. "Good job hiding the evidence!" With that, she turned on her heel and followed Belldandy.

888

Urd turned down the hall just in time to see Belldandy go into her room and close the door. She was about to follow when Frigga appeared, held a finger up in a way that said, "I got this," and followed the middle Norn inside.

Frigga found her daughter pacing back and forth in her room like a caged tiger, the bloody shirt still clutched in her hands as if she couldn't decide whether or not to let it go. She regarded the young goddess for several moments. In many ways, Belldandy was still quite young, sheltered by the environment in Heaven. Frigga was sure Belldandy knew academically that Keiichi was mortal. It just never struck her emotionally quite as hard as today.

"Belldandy," she said quietly. "He's mortal. It's simply the way things are. He's more fragile than we are."

The Norn stopped and took a breath. "I know," she said. "I've always known that. I just don't think of it that way. A part of me thinks of the future Keiichi and I have in terms of centuries, millenia, not..."

"It means nothing," Frigga told her. "Numbers on a calendar, that's all. It's not the amount of time, it's the quality."

"At best," Belldandy began, facing her mother. "At best we have about eight decades," she told her. "That's if some other boy doesn't stab him or he doesn't fall off his motorcycle during a race or a demon doesn't..."

"Ifs, ifs, ifs!" Frigga told her, taking her shoulders in her hands. "They don't see their mortality as a bad thing. It's knowing they can die that gives extra spice to their life. The candle that burns fastest, Belldandy, burns brightest."

Belldandy tried to digest this. She bit her lip in thought. "I can protect him," she said finally. "I'll not leave his side. That was his wish to begin with! I'll simply..."

"No, Belldandy, that won't work," Frigga told her quietly, her eyes tearing up. "I know. I tried. With your brother. Death does not take kindly to being cheated, and if he wants someone, he will take him."

"Then what can I do?" Belldandy asked in a haunted whisper. "I almost lost him yesterday and I wouldn't have known he was in danger until it was far too late to do anything."

"He could just as easily die in a motorcycle accident," Frigga told her. "What you must do is accept his mortality. Accept it and live with it."

"How?"

She smiled and stroked her daughter's hair. "Savor every moment with him," she told her. "Love at every opportunity, make your fights brief and rare and forgive quickly. And don't ever miss an opportunity to simply be with him."

888

Sitting across from Skuld in the ice cream parlor booth, Peorth watched as the young goddess devoured a quart of ice cream with apparently no thought to the fact she was in public.

The shopping trip had gone well, and they were heading home with a new white and red dress that fit Skuld superbly. They even had a little money left over for ice cream, and Peorth decided it was time to go to the next lesson.

"Taste," she said, interrupting Skuld's ice cream rampage. "This is another one of those lessons you'll insist you won't need, but we're going to go over it anyway, oui?"

Skuld wiped some ice cream from the corner of her mouth and nodded. "Okay."

"Now, odds are he will take you to dinner before the dance," Peorth went on. "When he does, order something light and reasonably priced, such as a salad."

"But he's paying," Skuld argued.

Peorth sighed. "Skuld, a woman doesn't get to order expensive meals until she's willing to offer the young man in question a great deal more than you will or should at this point in your life, understand?"

"Okay, okay... salad it is..."

"And then, dessert," Peorth insisted.

"But you just said..."

She waved the criticism aside. "First, find out what he likes, his favorite flavor of ice cream, for instance."

"He likes strawberry," Skuld told her with a guilty glance to the left.

Peorth smiled. "Good. Then you order one. If he starts to order one for himself, just offer to share yours."

"Share my ice cream?! Are you high?!" Skuld cried.

"You are missing the point!" Peorth told her accusingly. "It's not about the dessert, it's about sharing a moment and preparing for a later moment!"

"Fine," Skuld said grumpily.

"Now, here's where taste comes into play," Peorth began again with a wicked smile. "The reason you want to eat light and finish with something he enjoys is because at the end of the night, there's a chance the two of you will be..."

Skuld figured it out before she finished. "Eww! I already said I'm not going to do that!"

Peorth smirked. "It's easy to say now," she said. "But trust me, at the end of a good night out, the last thing you want to worry about is garlic breath." She leaned back and shrugged innocently. "And... if your lips happen to taste like something he already enjoys... so much the better."

The younger goddess snorted and folded her arms over her chest. "This is so complicated."

"It's really not," Peorth told her. "I'm not telling you to not be yourself. I'm merely giving you ways to prepare, to bring out the most attractive aspects of yourself and push them to the forefront."

Skuld sighed. "Did you ever have to do this stuff?"

"Sometimes," Peorth purred. "When I wanted a particularly spectacular effect from..." She trailed off and glanced down at the table.

"I'm sorry," Skuld said again.

Peorth shook her head. "Non. Don't be." She leaned forward. "Now tell me, why are you so adamant about not kissing this young man?"

Skuld blushed. "I... I don't know... I just don't..."

"Do you love him?"

The inventor looked up at her in shock, then, embarrassed by her answer, she replied. "I'm not sure."

"Bonne reponse," Peorth told her. "At this stage, you shouldn't be able to say yes or no."

Skuld looked down at her ice cream in thought. "So... how will I know when I am in love?"

Peorth looked at her seriously. "Describe how your life would change if he moved away tomorrow."

Skuld blinked in surprise at the force Peorth put in the question, but answered anyway. "Well, we wouldn't get to hang out anymore. I wouldn't have anyone to bike with or really talk to. I'd miss him."

The love goddess leaned forward and caught Skuld's eyes in her own as she whispered. "When you can no longer answer that question," she said quietly. "When the idea of him leaving becomes so alien, so distasteful, so undeniably wrong, that you don't even allow your mind to dwell on the possibility... then, Skuld... then you're in love."

She sat back as Skuld thought on this. "No wonder it's so hard to get Oneesama to go home," she whispered.

Peorth nodded. "If you were to somehow succeed in that, you would quite literally kill her spirit." She ignored Skuld's horrified look and pressed on. "The bond between two lovers is very similar to that of a goddess and her angel. One completes the other. Without the other... the one is lost." She smiled and whispered knowingly. "One day, Skuld, I'm quite sure you will understand."

888

Urd was rooting through the refrigerator when she heard the back door open. Looking up, she saw Megumi walk in, dressed in her standard jeans and a brown leather jacket.

"Hey," Urd said, standing up with a bottle of sake in her hand. "What brings you here?"

"Actually," she said. "I didn't have a whole lot to do today, and I thought I'd see if Nyd wanted to see some of Nekomi."

"My hero!" Urd cried with a smile. "Come with me."

She took the mortal woman down the hall to the guest room where Nyd was busy working on his holo-top.

"Nyd!" Urd sang. "You have a visitor!"

He looked up and saw the pair. "Oh, hi," he said.

Urd pushed Megumi forward. "Megumi here has offered to show you around town," Urd told him with a bright smile. "And I think you've spent far too much time cooped up in this house."

"Well, actually, I'm working on finding a way to reverse whatever has affected Jeth..."

"Then you need a break!" Urd told him. "All work and no play... etcetera, etcetera..."

"Oh," Nyd said. "Well... Okay, I guess that sounds all right."

"Come on," Megumi told him with a smile. "I'll show you around. You ever ride on the back of a motorcycle?"

888

Peorth followed Skuld down the next aisle and found what they were looking for. It was a stroke of luck that they happened on a drug store on the walk home. Peorth had almost forgotten to get Skuld some make-up.

With several rows of lipstick arrayed before them, Skuld darted for one at eye level.

"This is a nice shade of red," she noted.

"No red," Peorth told, pulling a tube of a light shade of pink down. "You're too young."

"I'm not a child," Skuld bit back.

Peorth whirled on her and knelt to speak to her at eye level. "Non," she said. "But neither are you a woman. You're at an in-between phase where young women such as yourself make the most mistakes."

Skuld growled at the implication.

"Remember," Peorth said, holding up the tube of pink. "The key is moderation. You're a sophisticated young lady... not a clown... not a whore. Understand?"

The young goddess rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I pick the shade."

"Of course!"

Skuld strolled down the aisle, perusing the different shades as Peorth observed from the end of the hallway, smiling.

She felt something behind her and stiffened.

"Peorth."

The love goddess grimaced. "I told you to leave me alone."

Standing behind her, Miranda looked uncomfortable. "I know," she said. "But I still need your help. I've got nowhere else to turn."

"Then you're done," Peorth told her, refusing to face her, instead keeping her attention on Skuld.

Miranda saw the focus of her attention and smiled, hoping a lighter topic might thaw Peorth's attitude a little. "She's adorable," she said of Skuld. "Is she your daughter?"

The change was instant. Before Miranda could blink, Peorth had turned and grabbed her by the front of her jacket, shoving her against the eyeliner stand. Plastic make-up containers crashed against the floor, causing every head in the drug store to turn toward them.

"No, she's not!" Peorth hissed at her, her voice just barely audible. "I never had children. I never had children because the only god I ever considered having children _with_ chose Hell over me! And he chose Hell over me because someone told him it was the only way to protect Heaven!"

"Peorth!?" Skuld cried from down the aisle. "Is everything okay?"

The love goddess released the valkyrie and glared at her. "I've been patient with you until now. Leave me alone."

She turned and started for the door. "Skuld! Pay for your stuff and let's go!"

888

How can she just disappear? he asked himself as he checked the bath for the third time. He had been looking for Belldandy since she left his room, but the goddess was nowhere to be found.

_I shouldn't have lied to her_, he thought.

_Technically, you didn't lie, _he thought back to himself.

_You know how much she worries_, the boy thought in response.

Finally, he saw her turn the corner and hurry toward him.

"Belldandy!" he breathed a sigh of relief. "Where have you been?"

Instead of answering, she took his hands in her own and leaned forward to kiss him.

"I'm sorry," he said as they parted. "I shouldn't have lied to you... or... I guess I should have told you about what happened, but I didn't want you to worr..."

"Keiichi, I forgive you and Urd for that," she said quickly, hugging him tightly. "I want to talk to you. Will you take a walk with me?"

He started to worry. Was she about to break up with him? The tone in her voice was so serious, it did nothing but inspire apprehension.

"Uh... Sure," he said dumbly. "Let's go."

888

Urd, her genuine and official 'Go Go Happy Panda' Fan Club furry panda ears perched upon her head, looked up as the door opened and Peorth and Skuld stepped inside. Turning back to her TV show, she waved absently.

"How was shopping?" she asked.

"Kinda weird toward the end," Skuld whispered as she passed her, prompting Urd to look up at Peorth, who looked visibly shaken.

"What's up?" Urd asked as Skuld disappeared down the hall.Peorth looked down at the ground.

"I'm just... angry," she said quietly.

"About what?"

The love goddess paused. "Everything," she finally said.

Urd shrugged. "Sometimes it's just normal to be mad at the world."

"Oui," Peorth replied.

The elder Norn held out a bag of popcorn. "Sit down. Have some popcorn. Watch Go Go Happy Panda maul some jaywalkers. It'll do you good."

Peorth arched an eyebrow. "You're sure you don't want some alone time with your fiancé?" she asked.

Urd snorted. "Are you kidding? By now our dear Casanova of the medical profession is probably showing off his bug collection to Megumi..."

888

Nyd wasn't very good at talking to girls. A life lived in the bush tends to stunt your social growth, although there were plenty of times when tribal chieftains had offered him their daughters' hands in marriage as a way to seal a bond of friendship between them. Nyd had always politely refused, stammering a little at the time. To him, women, whether they be tribal princesses or goddesses, were simply alien and mystical to him.

Which made his current predicament quite uncomfortable. It had all started innocently enough. After an afternoon of cruising around Nekomi on the back of Megumi's motorcycle, she had asked if he'd like to get something to drink. Thinking a glass of water sounded good, he agreed, and now found himself sitting in the middle of a corner booth at a local tavern, surrounded on both sides by Megumi and her friends from the Home Ec Club on one side and her female friends from the Auto Club on the other.

At first, he was more than a little nervous. But after a couple of fruit juice drinks called "Cosmos," he had to admit he was feeling a little better.

"Kanpai!" Megumi cried, lifting her beer, and Nyd and assembled girls mimicked her.

"So, Nyd san," the girl on his left, one of the Home Ec club members, purred. "Megumi says you're a doctor."

"Um, yeah, that's right," he said.

"Are you a specialist?" another girl from further down the table asked. "Like, do you do cosmetic surgery or heart surgery?"

"Well, I kind of specialize in eradicating diseases," he said. "Research and stuff."

"Oh yeah?" a girl on his right asked. "That probably pays pretty well, huh?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "I spend a lot of time in the field, where the diseases originate..."

"You mean like Doctors Without Borders?" another girl gushed. "Those people are so selfless! Giving up money so they can help people!"

"Um... Well... I guess you could say that..." Nyd relented, taking another long drink from his Cosmopolitan. He felt the end of his nose entering a warm numbness.

The girl sitting to his right, a bespectacled girl named Hasegawa, leaned up to him. "Are you really a doctor?" she asked. "We girls hear a lot of stories from guys..."

"Like remember that guy who claimed to be a senator from America?" one girl called out.

The girls giggled, and Nyd suddenly felt very outnumbered.

"Well," he said nervously. "Maybe I can prove it." He cleared his throat and turned to Hasegawa. Taking her head in his hands, he locked his eyes on her as the other girls watched, waiting to see what he was going to do.

Nyd held two fingers up in a "V." He pointed at her eyes, then back to his. Then to hers, then to his again. Finally, he pointed to her eyes and snapped his fingers.

Hasegawa flinched and started blinking rapidly. "What the... What did you do?!" she cried.

"What's wrong?" Megumi asked.

"Augh... My vision is all blurry!" Hasegawa complained. Taking her glasses off to rub her eyes, she suddenly blinked again. "Hey... Hey!" she cried excitedly. "I... I can see perfectly! It's all clear! I must be twenty-twenty!"

The other girls looked at Nyd in sheer astonishment.

He finished his Cosmo and looked at the empty glass in disappointment. "Awww... I'm all out..."

"WAITRESS!" six girls cried out at once.

888

Keiichi watched Belldandy as they turned onto the sidewalk. The goddess quickly moved to his right, walking between him and the traffic on the road. Apparently, she was still shaken from discovering his shirt and was doing everything she could to "protect" him.Reaching out, she took his hand and led him down the street toward the park, content to just be with him. Keiichi, still unsure of what she wanted to talk about, remained warily silent.

It wasn't until they entered the park and started down the nature trail that Belldandy spoke.

"Keiichi... about before. I'm very sorry I yelled."

"No, it's okay," he said quickly. "I'm sorry. I should have told you."

The goddess looked very uncomfortable, still ashamed of her behavior. "Keiichi, gods live for thousands upon thousands of years," she said. "Mortals only live for about a century, and you're all so fragile. Seeing your blood... so much blood... it just... it really brought it into the light for me. It made me think..."

"About what?" he asked warily.

Her attention was stolen by a pair of six-year-olds running by. She watched them, entranced by them. Her thoughts went back to the neo-natal ward at the hospital.

"Belldandy?" he asked softly.

"Time," she whispered. "I've been thinking about time. You and I have so little of it..."

"Belldandy," he said with a smile. "We have a whole lifetime to spend together!"

"And I don't want to waste a single moment," she said quietly, stepping ahead of him.

Keiichi watched as she looked up at the flowering trees around her. "Not a single moment," she whispered.

Suddenly, she whirled around and grabbed his hands in her own.

"Keiichi!" she cried. "I want you to marry me!"

"EHHHHHHHHHH?!" he cried.

"I love you!" she told him, tears in her eyes. "I love you, and I want to spend every moment I can by your side!"

"I love you too, Belldandy," he replied, awe-struck.

"Then marry me!" she begged.

"Belldandy," he said quietly.

He took a deep breath.

"Belldandy... no."


	7. Secret Dreams

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Secret Dreams**_

* * *

**"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time."**

_Hobbes_

_"Calvin and Hobbes"_

* * *

Belldandy felt ice consume her entire body, enveloping her from her heart outward. Her hands released Keiichi's, and she took a step back.

"What?" she whispered. She couldn't have heard right. Surely she had misheard or he had misspoke.

"Belldandy, no," he repeated.

Her legs threatened to give out under her. "You said you loved me," she whispered.

"I do!" he cried, taking her by the arms. "But think about it!"

"What's there to think about?" she asked. "I love you... and you love me... so..."

He caressed her face, tears in his eyes. "Belldandy... I love you with all my heart," he told her. "But I also know this isn't what you wanted it to be like. I've seen inside you."

She shook her head and pressed into him. "It doesn't matter what I wanted before..."

"It does," he said. "I don't think you really want to get married right now. I mean, we both just found out how we _really_ feel about one another a month ago. We had a close call, and now you're scared."

She wanted to tell him she wasn't, that her decision to propose to him was based solely on how she felt about him...

But she was a Truth-Teller. She couldn't lie. Not even to save his life.

"Say it, Belldandy," he whispered. "You're scared."

Tears started streaming down her face. "I'm scared!" she cried, looking into his face with devastated eyes. "Everything we are, you and I together, could end in a heartbeat!" She shook her head and valiantly tried to wipe her eyes with her hand. "And there's so much left for us to do! I want to marry you! I want to bear your children! There are recipes I haven't even cooked for you yet!" She sobbed at how inconsequential the last statement was and at the same time at how important it was for her.

She felt his hand cup her chin and opened her eyes.

"I want to marry you, Belldandy," he said just above a whisper. "Sometimes it's all I can think about." His voice turned firm. "But when I propose to you, it's going to be for the right reasons. It's not going to be because I'm scared of something I can't even control. It's going to be because I love you and can't bear to be without you for one more minute!"

The goddess swallowed back another sob and managed to choke out, "I love you, Keiichi!" before throwing herself into his arms.

He closed his eyes and held her.

"You're going to marry me, right?" she asked into his ear.

Keiichi squeezed her tightly. "I swear to God I will," he whispered. "When the time is right."

888

"I can't believe you like this show," Peorth said from Urd's right as the other love goddess sang along to the end theme's lyrics.

"What can I say?" Urd told her. "There's just something about a panda bear viciously murdering evil-doers that speaks to my heart."

Before Peorth could reply, Frigga entered the room. "Excuse me, girls. Have either of you seen Nyd?"

Urd smiled. "Nyd? I think he went out on a date..."

Frigga's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry. A what?"

The love goddess nodded as she changed the channel. "Mm hmm," she replied. "A date. With Keiichi's sister."

The queenly goddess said nothing for several seconds. "I see," she finally remarked. Just as she said this, the god in question walked through the front door.

"Oh, hello!" he said with a smile.

With one deft move honed by centuries of practice, Frigga whirled around and slapped Nyd across the face, knocking the doctor back several paces.

"Frigga! What the..." Urd cried, rising to her feet.

Nyd held the side of his face in pained puzzlement as he stumbled a few steps forward. "Um... ow..." he began.

"How _dare_ you!?" Frigga hissed at him. "Going out gallivanting with a mortal strumpet and leaving thy fiancé at home to wait for you?! I expect that from some of the lesser families, but not a son of Eir! Especially given the fragile nature of thy engagement!"

Nyd looked down at the floor in shame.

Frigga stood up to her full regal height and glared down at him. "I certainly hope this was only a one-time indiscretion brought on by the stress of recent events. I would hate to think this kind of behavior was habitual."

With that, Frigga stormed out of the room like a retreating hurricane.

Painfully aware of her role in this, Urd winced sympathetically and stood up, rushing to Nyd.

"You okay?" she asked, taking his arm and leading him to a chair. "Frigga's got a pretty strong pimp-hand. Peorth, get some rosetta salts from my potions cabinet in case he passes out."

Peorth rushed down the hall after the item.

"Hey, Nyd?" she asked quietly. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he said quietly, still refusing to look at her. "I'm sorry..."

"She had no right to do that," Urd told him.

"Yes, she did," Nyd replied. "Because she's right." He still wouldn't look at her as he continued. "It was wrong of me to go out without you. This engagement may have been thrust upon me, but it does not give me the right to seek the company of another woman."

"Oh, come on, Nyd," she said. "I told you to go..."

He finally looked up at her. "No, it was wrong. I know you hate all this, Urd. And I should be doing my best to make it up to you. And I'm going to start by doing whatever I can to make this situation work." She nearly jumped when he suddenly took her hands and looked up into her eyes. "I promise you that."

The healer released her hands and stood up. "If you'll excuse me," he said quietly. "I'm going to put some salve on my face." With that, he walked down the hall toward his room, passing Peorth as he went.

"I found it," Peorth said casually, holding up a small glass bottle and shrugging. "Guess everything's okay?"

Urd didn't turn to her, just standing there silently.

"Cheri?" Peorth asked. "Are you all right?"

The other love goddess sighed. "Dammit," Urd whispered.

"What's the matter?" Peorth asked.

Urd finally turned to her. "This would be so much easier if he wasn't such a nice guy!" she finally bit out.

Peorth smiled. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts."

"He's just so damn... _sincere_!" Urd cried. She sat down and stared up at the ceiling. "Dammit!"

"Oui," Peorth agreed, folding her arms over her chest and smirking. "Damn that Frigga for finding you a nice young man to marry when there are so many self-absorbed jerks to choose from!"

"You're not helping," Urd growled.

"Excusez-moi," Peorth replied, her smirk not budging an inch. "What's Plan... I'm sorry, which one are you on now?"

"Plan G," Urd growled.

"Ah, so what is Plan G?" Peorth asked.

"There is no Plan G," Urd admitted.

"Let me ask you something," Peorth began. At Urd's nod, she continued. "If the circumstances were different," she said quietly. "If Nyd had shown up, not as a freedom-killing fiancé, but as... I don't know... Frigga's personal physician... and he asked you to dinner... What would you say?"

Urd looked uncomfortable at the question. "Well... A free meal is a free meal," she grunted.

Peorth smiled. "And?"

"And, as so many of you keep telling me... he _is_ a nice guy..."

"And?"

Urd rolled her eyes. "I might have deigned to give him the honor of buying me dinner," she finally said.

Peorth patted her friend on the back. "It sounds like Plan G is dinner and a movie," she said.

"I keep telling you all this, and none of you ever seem to believe me," Urd bit out. "I'm not marrying him."

"Then don't," Peorth told her. "Doesn't mean you can't date him."

Urd collapsed onto her back and stared at the ceiling, blowing air between her lips. "FINE!" she cried.

Peorth started toward her room. "Urd has a boy-friend!" she sang.

"Peorth! I hate you! I swear!"

888

"I thought you were going to be a trickster."

Peorth tossed her hair and leaned back against the tree as she regarded her boyfriend laying on his back in the grass nearby.

"I thought about it," Wynn told her. "I thought it would be fun, but some of the stuff they do is just plain cruel." He shrugged. "Just doesn't seem to be much purpose in it."

"Non?" she asked with a tilt of her head. "You're going to have to choose soon. You need to know what role to go for before the next semester."

"I know," he said. "It's just hard to choose. What about you? What did you choose?"

She smiled slyly and leaned forward, resting on her elbows so that her lips were only an inch from his ear. "Love goddess," she whispered.

"Really?" he asked with a knowing grin. "And why that role?"

She didn't answer, instead rising back onto her knees. "You'll laugh."

"I will not," he replied. "C'mon. Tell me."

Peorth looked down at the grass in embarrassment. "Because I want everyone else to feel the same way I feel when I'm with you."

"Now you're just being stupid," he told her.

"Don't give me that!" she cried. "You asked!"

He went back to staring up at the clouds.

She snorted derisively and threw her nose in the air. "At least I _have_ a reason," she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"What do you think I should be?" he asked her.

She responded by throwing a leg over him and straddling him, resting her hands on his chest and smiling down at him. "Valkyrie?" she asked.

"You have to wake up too early," he told her.

She inched downward. "Love god?" she purred.

He rolled his eyes. "I do that job now," he grinned.

The future love goddess inched lower, her lips inches from his.

"Then you're already qualified..." She closed her eyes.

"I'm not dead."

Her eyes popped open, and the god laying below her was not the Wynn she had been about to kiss, but the scarred spy she had watched die.

"You know that, don't you?" he asked her.

Tears formed in her eyes as reality came crashing back to her, even daring to interrupt her dreams. "Oui," she whispered. "It's you out there, isn't it?" she asked. "You're killing those angels."

"You've seen Lucky Jack," he told her. "You know, or at least suspect, what he's capable of."

"Oui," she choked out.

"What will you do?" he asked.

She sat up. "You're just a dream," she said dismissively. "I'm not going to report a dream to Heaven. You're dead. And dead gods can't kill..."

He sat up and took her arms in his hands. "Then you'll be like me."

"I'm not rampant," she told him definitively. "And I still don't believe you ever were."

"What will you do when you see me in the waking world?" he asked her. "Kiss me? Or try to blow my brains out?"

"Peorth?"

The goddess's eyes fluttered open, and she was back in her room at the temple.

"Hey, you okay?" Urd asked, standing over her in her black silk chemise.

"Oui, I'm fine," Peorth said, sitting up in her futon. "Why?"

"You were moaning in your sleep," Urd told her.

"What did I say?"

"'He's not dead, he's not dead,'" Urd told her sadly. It didn't take a genius to know who Peorth meant.

"Oh," Peorth told her. "Bad dream," she concluded. She climbed out of her futon and threw a silk robe over herself. "I'm... I'm going to get some tea."

Urd nodded and watched the love goddess slide the door aside and start for the kitchen. Putting a tea kettle on the stove, Peorth sat down at the table and waited silently.

Before the whistle even started to screech, another goddess entered the kitchen. Belldandy, holding her blue robe tightly to herself, smiled to Peorth.

"I heard you walk by and thought you might be making tea," Belldandy said. "I guess I was right. May I join you?"

Peorth gestured to the seat across from her, and Belldandy took it.

"Trouble sleeping?" Belldandy asked her.

"I could ask you the same thing," the love goddess replied.

Belldandy smiled. "My sleep is troubled anytime one of my friends is," she said.

Peorth chuckled at this.

"Peorth," Belldandy began quietly. "I never found a good time to say this to you... With Wynn san's death... I thought it would have been cruel to say... But I want to thank you for you did for me and Keiichi."

The love goddess looked down at the table. "It's my job," she said simply.

"It's not just your job," Belldandy disagreed. "It's your calling. And you do it very well."

Peorth wouldn't look up at her. On the stove, the kettle began to whistle. Without a word, Belldandy rose and made them both tea. When she returned with two tea cups, Peorth was still looking down at the table.

"Peorth?" Belldandy asked.

"Do you know why I became a love goddess?" she asked quietly.

Belldandy shook her head and sat down again.

"Wynn and I met and fell in love very young," she said. "Before we chose our roles. And I remember feeling this... constant uplifting joy..." She looked up at the ceiling. "I decided I wanted everyone to feel what I felt."

"That's wonderful!" Belldandy said happily.

"And then Wynn left... I threw him out... and he didn't come back, and it changed..." She looked up at Belldandy. "It wasn't that I wanted them to feel joy," she said quietly. "I just wanted to make sure no one else ever had to feel that kind of pain... the way I felt it..."

Belldandy's expression drooped. "I see."

Peorth looked at her. "You and Keiichi deserve that joy," she said. "For the first time in a long time, I didn't want to just avert pain. I wanted someone to feel that joy again."

"Thank you," Belldandy told her.

"How are things between the two of you?" Peorth asked.

Belldandy paused. "Complicated," she finally answered.

Peorth smiled. "As it should be."

"Moder tells me you're helping Skuld get ready for a date," Belldandy remarked, changing the subject.

"Your sister's in danger of falling in love," Peorth told her simply, staring into her tea cup.

Belldandy smiled. "I knew it would happen to Skuld eventually."

Peorth stood up and started back for her room. "Yeah, her too."

888

Metheus, floating two hundred feet into the night sky, looked down at the temple, watching the light in the kitchen go off.

He wondered briefly who it was getting a midnight snack. Urd? Skuld?

Peorth?

_Soon,_ he told himself. _Soon. First uphold your end of the bargain..._

"Lord Inquisitor."

He turned and found Krieg floating next to him. The hulking god was a behemoth of a man, at least seven feet tall with enough muscle to go toe-to-toe with a train and still win.

"Krieg," he greeted.

"We are prepared to move on your order," Krieg rumbled.

"Why did you stay, Krieg?" Metheus suddenly asked him even as he allowed his stare to continue to rest on the temple nearby.

"I am suited for the job," Krieg grunted.

"I was looking for a serious answer," Metheus told him, turning his eye to him.

The juggernaut gave the question serious thought. Metheus considered Krieg an enigma. Carestia was easy to understand; the brutal slut simply liked it. Krieg, however...

"Honestly, Inquisitor... No one had ever offered me the choice before," he rumbled.

"Just like that?" Metheus asked.

"And I admit... Like Carestia... I enjoyed my time in Hell more than a god should. I fear with that stain on me, I could never go back."

"We are what we are," Metheus whispered.

"We are what we choose to be," Krieg corrected. "Our choice was to be monsters."

Metheus was silent for several moments. Then, looking down at the temple again, he spoke.

"Order the strikes," he said simply.

Krieg bowed. "It shall be done, Lord Inquisitor."

888

Peorth tossed and turned in her sleep, unable to find rest. Even her dream was defeating her. As she tossed and turned in her futon, she dreamt of tossing and turning in her bed in her apartment in Heaven.

Something dark was in the room with her. She could feel it, yet she wanted to ignore it. Let it lie there in the dark. It wasn't her concern.

A rough hand took her arm, and her eyes snapped open, revealing her darkened bedroom back home.

Metheus stood over her, his steel grip around her arm as he looked down at her with his single blue eye.

"We're killing again," he said simply.

Her eyes snapped open again, this time revealing the guest room in the temple. She swallowed back panic. Throwing off the covers, she ran out of the room and down the hall.

Urd yawned and rubbed her eyes. "C'mon, Peorth! Just go to sleep already!" she cried.

Peorth ignored her, running down the hall toward the room Frigga was sharing with her youngest daughter. Not even bothering to knock, she threw the door open and went straight for the end table where the queen's holo-top sat.

"Peorth?" Skuld asked with a yawn. "What's going on?"

Again Peorth ignored the question and opened the computer, waiting for it to boot up and connect to the intranet. She typed her hidden password and brought up the Earth Help Center's granting schedule. There were twice as many wishes being granted as before as the center took over granting operations from the Goddess Help Line.

"Child?" she heard Frigga ask. "What is it?"

Peorth bit her lip and looked at the six names on the list. At least one of them was about to be attacked.

"Peorth?" Frigga asked again.

Her finger trailed down the list and stopped at one name. Francis Crease, Honolulu, Hawaii. She had no reason to choose that name over the others, but she trusted her instincts. Standing up, she rushed out of the room and back down the hall in search of Keiichi's camera.

888

The goddess emerged from a pair of headphones that sat on Mr. Francis Crease's student desk, landing nimbly on her feet and sparing a moment to adjust her golden-blonde pigtails. Putting on a bright smile, she straightened her aquamarine skirt and turned to the young man in question.

"Mr. Francis Crease!" she bubbled. "I'm so happy to meet you! I've come from the Earth Help Center to grant your fondest wish!" She added a girlish giggle.

The boy, shaking in fear, stared at something over the goddess' shoulder. Taking the hint, she turned and looked up...

...and up...

Krieg stood over her. The rampant reached down and caressed the goddess's face.

"You..." the goddess stammered. "You... you... you..."

The rampant smiled.

So did the goddess. With one quick movement, she snagged the hand that had been caressing her and pivoted, launching the god-demon across the room and into the far wall.

"... screwed with the wrong goddess this time, asshole," she finished. She drew a soul blade and watched the juggernaut rise to his feet. She turned to the boy. "You! Mortal! Leave!"

Francis ran out the bedroom door screaming for help.

"Arc Light, Lost Sheep One," the goddess spoke into one of the bangles on her wrist. "Contact acquired. Engaging."

Krieg turned to her as he rose to his full height. "A valkyrie," he rumbled. "You do me too much honor..."

"Save the ass-kissing for the magistrates!" the goddess bit out. "Surrender and consent to sealing! Or I'm going to have to simply kill you."

Krieg chuckled. "Please do."

The goddess reached into the air. "Come forth, Frosty D'Lights!" With a flash of light and blast of cold air, a blue-haired angel appeared over the goddess.

The rampant smiled. "Blitz Krieg! Come forth!"

The goddess turned away briefly as a flash of black light filled the room. Managing to look back, her jaw dropped at the sight that met her eyes. An angel made of dark blue light hovered before her, electricity arcing around it. Two pitch black orbs, the thing's eyes, tracked her as she backed away.

"What in the Almighty's name are you?" the goddess whispered.

"I am peace, I am salvation," Krieg rumbled. "Submit and I will give it to you..."

He took a step toward her, and the valkyrie braced for battle. Just as she was about to launch an attack, a small digital camera sitting on the desk whirred to life, and in a flash of light, Peorth emerged from its lens.

Krieg turned and growled, but Peorth didn't come to fight. Blinking through the light thrown off by Blitz Krieg's body, she grabbed hold of the goddess and dragged her back through the camera.

The rampant roared in rage.

888

The two goddesses and the angel landed in a heap on the living room floor. Frigga, Skuld and Urd rushed to them, kneeling next to them and checking them for injuries.

Peorth slowly climbed to her feet and turned as Frosty D'Lights merged with the valkyrie she had saved, the woman's back turned to her. "Are you all right?" she asked.

She saw the other goddess go rigid at the sound of her voice. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," the valkyrie hissed.

Something about the voice made Peorth pause.

Urd finally recognized the goddess beneath the flashy clothes and make-up and blinked. "Gaeriel!?"

Gaeriel turned, her eyes ablaze as she started pulling off all her fake jewelry. "Just what in the name of the Almighty's moustache do you think you're doing?!" she demanded.

Peorth flinched, but recovered quickly. "Saving your life!" she countered.

"I didn't need to be saved," the valkyrie hissed. "Everything was going according to plan!"

"And did the plan involve a killer angel stealing your higher thoughts away, ami?" Peorth asked, her arms folded over her chest. "A 'merci' would suffice."

"What are you doing here, Cadet?" Frigga asked.

Gaeriel continued pulling off costume jewelry and even took a stab at getting her hair out of those ridiculous pigtails. "Freya asked Lind for help, so we sent valkyries to grant tonight's wishes instead of granters, hoping that whatever we're dealing with here would strike us so we could nail them." She turned a glare on Peorth. "It was working real well too until Mademoiselle Hero here decided to butt in."

Peorth rubbed her temples. This was so not what she needed right now.

Gaeriel growled to herself and lifted her wrist to her lips, the jeweled bangle glowing softly. "Arc Light, this is Lost Sheep One, come in." She turned to Peorth. "I hope you're happy with yourself."

Peorth didn't answer, having to consciously stop herself from regretting saving Gaeriel's life.

"Arc Light, this is Lost Sheep One," Gaeriel repeated.

"Lieutenant?!" a girl's voice came over the bangle. "Thank the Almighty! We thought we lost you too!"

"Lost me?" Gaeriel asked, blinking. "What do you mean?"

"Lost Sheep Two and Four are confirmed down," the voice replied. "We've recovered them... but... they're like the others... When the recovery agent we sent to Honolulu didn't find a body, we feared the worst... What's your lingo, over?"

"Believe it or not, I'm at the Morisato residence with Lady Frigga and her companions," Gaeriel said.

"Roger. Stand by."

While she waited, she turned to the other goddesses. "Just what the heck was that thing, anyway?"

Peorth, exhausted, angry, hurt and beyond caring was the one who answered, chuckling quietly as she did so.

"Past sins..."

"Lost Sheep One, stand by for Sheepdog."

Gaeriel straightened a little on instinct just as an older man's voice came on.

"Gaeriel, are you all right?"

For the first time that night, a smile touched her lips and her eyes softened. "Yes, Sensei, I'm fine."

"Good," the god on the other end said. "Give me your sit-rep."

Gaeriel went through the entire night's events. What surprised Peorth was that the valkyrie made no attempt to embellish any aspect of it one way or the other. She kept the entire conversation factual. Perhaps the young valkyrie was not as unprofessional as Peorth thought.

"We need actionable intel," Sheepdog told her. "According the report Freya has given us, most of what we know has come from where you're currently standing. I want you to remain on station there, gather what intel you can and report back."

"Gwydion sensei," Gaeriel whispered eagerly. "I'd rather be a part of the next granting operation..."

"Given the two bodies our healers are working on, we're suspending that operation until we know more about what we're dealing with," the war god told her. "You're our front line now, Gaeriel. What we do next is going to hinge on what you find out."

The valkyrie took a slow breath. "Understood!" she finally said.

"Good hunting, Gaeriel," Gwydion told her. "Sheepdog out."

The blonde goddess took a breath and turned to them. "So," she said. "When's breakfast?"

888

The three rampants knelt before Hild as she rose from her onyx throne and approached them, a look of supreme dissatisfaction on her face.

"What happened out there, Inquisitor?" she demanded.

If Hild's disapproving tone unnerved Metheus, he didn't show it. "Valkyries posing as wish granters attempted to interfere with the plan," he told her simply. "Two were incapacitated, and another... disappeared."

"Disappeared?" she asked. "You mean _ESCAPED!_" she screamed at him.

"Such an occurrence was inevitable," he told her, seemingly unflappable. "It can be turned to our advantage if we move quickly."

"And just how did this valkyrie... 'disappear?'" she asked.

She turned to Krieg and sauntered up to him. Almost casually, she reached up and passed her hand over his eyes. The rampant screamed and fell to his knees, holding his head.

Hild turned and pointed at a space in front of them. A blurry image taken from Krieg's mind appeared before them, showing them the valkyrie he faced in Hawaii.

"Gaeriel," Metheus rasped.

"You know her?" Hild asked.

_I told you we should have killed that valkyrie bitch when we had the chance,_ Black Jack hissed at him from within his soul.

_Not now,_ Metheus chastised him.

"She's the one they sent to kill me," he told her.

Hild nodded thoughtfully and watched as the image started moving, replaying the last few moments of the near-battle. There was a flash of light, and a lone figure grabbed Gaeriel and pulled her into a travel medium.

The arch-demoness waved her hand, and the image rewound, replaying at the point the flash consumed the room.

"I can't make it out," Hild whispered. She turned to Metheus. "Can you see who it is?"

Metheus looked at the image, recognizing the ponytail that waved at him almost teasingly from Krieg's memories.

"Inquisitor?" Hild pressed.

He turned his blue eye toward her. "No," he finally said. "It could be anyone."

Hild nodded as she regarded him, not quite sure if she believed him. "You said this could be turned to our advantage," she said. "How?"

"Simple," he replied. "We inspire fear."


	8. Keep the Faith

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. Special thanks to WillZ and Exp.626.Fan for prereading this.

Foreword: Now, I know what you're thinking. "Two updates in a week? Davner, you magnificent, virile bastard, what gives?" Well, something rather interesting happened a week ago. My wife, Sethra, and I had a baby. Because our little Lucky Jack was born a few weeks premature, they're keeping him in the hospital for awhile and Sethra is staying with him. I, meanwhile, am on leave and am staying home watching our older son. Well, as it turns out, after you do a load of laundry and feed the little eating machine a snack, you have a little more free time. This means I've been, on average, writing a half chapter a day. So those of you who like frequent updates, this Bud's for you.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 8**_

_**Keep the Faith**_

* * *

**"There is no refuge from confession but suicide; and suicide is confession."**

_Daniel Webster_

* * *

Carestia opened the door and found Metheus' stern face on the other side.

"My Lord Inquisitor," she purred with a low bow. "You honor my home with your illustrious presence. Would you like to come in?"

He ignored the offer. "Get your weapon and come with me," he said, already turning to start down the hall again.

Carestia quickly buckled her falchion to her belt and followed him. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Krieg's quarters," he answered as they started down a set of ancient stone steps. As they walked, Carestia noticed him adjusting his rapier in its sheathe.

"Trouble?" she asked.

"Not yet," he replied.

It was a ten minute walk to Krieg's apartment in an area of Hell's capitol city called The Doldrums. Walking up to the door, Metheus knocked twice.

The door opened, and Krieg's presence filled the entire doorway.

"Lord Inquisitor," he rumbled in greeting.

"Krieg," Metheus replied, getting right to business. "Intelligence has reported that the bodies of some of the goddesses we've disabled have not been recovered by Heaven. By an amazing coincidence, they are all goddesses you were sent to strike."

The juggernaut rumbled low in his throat.

"Where are they?" Metheus asked.

Krieg turned and made way for them to enter. Metheus stepped inside and took a sad breath at what he saw. Following a moment later, Carestia giggled.

Three beds lined the far wall, a sleeping goddess in each. The granters' hands were folded over their chests, and dark red bloodflowers surrounded each of them. It was obvious Krieg had gone through a great deal of trouble to care for them.

"Krieg, if you were that hard up for a date, you could have just asked," Carestia told him with a twinkle in her eye. "As it is, these pieces of ass are little better than potted plants!"

Metheus regarded the scene, taking a deep breath.

"What are you doing with them?" he asked his subordinate.

Krieg's eyes turned from him to Carestia and back again. "Lord Inquisitor... I will make confession before the Inquisition... if you will let me."

Metheus arched an eyebrow. It was a bold gesture. Krieg was essentially giving his life to Metheus' judgement in return for not having to air his confession in front of Carestia, who would, undoubtedly, turn around and spread it all over Hell.

"Carestia, leave," Metheus ordered.

The demoness wasn't listening, she was lightly running her fingers up one of the unconscious goddess's legs.

"Captain!" Metheus hissed.

"Very well," the demoness sighed, sauntering out of the room.

Once the door was closed, Metheus turned back to the soldier. "You understand that by confessing before the Inquisition you forfeit your life if I deem so?"

"I do," Krieg replied.

"Very well," Metheus said. "State your case."

Krieg turned and looked at the three sleeping goddesses. "They deserve better than this," he told him. "They dedicated themselves to others. I deprived them of that, so I care for them now."

"We're at war," Metheus reminded him. "They are the enemy. We've seen it all before."

The leviathan rumbled and turned back to him. "In the war we fought soldiers. This... killing helpless women in the dark... it does not feel like war."

"Cold blooded murder is a filthy business!" Metheus hissed. "But that is the role our queen has chosen for us. The role you agreed to play. We are demons, this is a combat unit and we follow orders."

"We are not."

"Excuse me?" Metheus demanded.

Krieg looked down on him. "We are not demons," he rumbled. "We serve demons. We ape them. But we are not them. Not until the Almighty deems it so. You and I, Inquisitor, are gods who have deliberately chosen this path. That makes our culpability in what we do even greater than that of Her Majesty. She is a demon. It is expected of her. They expected different of us."

"You have a role to play," Metheus said dangerously. "Will you play it?"

"I will continue to play it," Krieg told him sadly. "What is your judgement, Inquisitor?"

"The tactical implications are hard to read," Metheus told him seriously. "I could argue that the disappearance of some goddesses can only add to the level of fear and aid us. But... you defied orders, and for that your life is forfeit. Execution to be administered by a method chosen by me at a time chosen by me. Do you understand?"

Understand or not, it made no difference. The Inquisition spoke with Hild's authority.

Krieg nodded. "I understand."

Metheus turned to go. "No more," he said. "You can keep these three, but no more."

"Yes, Inquisitor."

The demon-god walked out of his old friend's quarters and wondered briefly how a towering brute who reveled in war could have more humanity than him.

888

Rows of bassinets stretched out into the darkness of infinity before her, creating a daunting task for the goddess as she went from crib to crib, checking the faces, the eyes of each child within before moving on to the next one.

One more...

Peorth looked down at the cute infant but frowned. It wasn't hers.

The goddess moved on. She knew with so many, surely one of them was hers.

One more... Nothing...

She saw movement ahead and squinted. Rushing forward, she found Belldandy standing over one of the bassinets. Dressed in her nurse outfit, she was marking something on a clipboard.

"Belldandy," she said with relief. "Thank the Almighty. Can you help me? Can you help me find mine?"

The Norn turned to her. "I'm afraid not, Peorth san," she said.

"You work here, right?" Peorth asked. "Surely you know?"

"You don't understand," Belldandy told her with a sad frown. "You see... There isn't one. You don't get to have one..."

Peorth's eyes snapped open, and only the face of the alarm clock met her gaze. Sighing, she wiped away the tears she had cried in the night and sat up.

"That was a new one," she whispered. _What Miranda said must be getting to me._

She looked over to the other side of the room and found Urd gone. Rising to her feet, she decided it was time to start the day.

How many bad dreams last night? Too many to count. It did prove one thing, though. There was some lingering connection between her and Wynn. It warned her about the attacks last night. Which meant he was alive somewhere.

She dressed and wondered what to do next. Talk to Gaeriel? The valkyrie would have her in chains before the magistrates if she knew.

Who could she talk to?

888

"So what are you going to do?" Urd asked Gaeriel as she sat down at the breakfast table.

The young valkyrie looked much different than the giggly granting goddess she had imitated last night. Gone was the layer of make-up and the frilly dress. At first, Belldandy had offered her some clothes, but Gaeriel couldn't find anything that made her feel like a proper valkyrie. Finally, she simply borrowed a t-shirt, jeans and a jacket from Keiichi. She was a bit taller than him, but it was closer to her style.

"My orders are to find intel," Gaeriel said. "So... I guess I'll do that."

"And how are you..."

"I have no idea," the valkyrie admitted.

Before she could continue, Frigga stormed into the room like an angry thundercloud. Her holotop was held under her arm.

"Give me your cell phone!" she demanded, gazing angrily at Gaeriel.

"What?" the valkyrie asked, puzzled.

"The market dropped twelve points!" Frigga said accusingly.

"So what does that have to do with my cell phone?" Gaeriel asked.

"Because the market fell because of this!" Frigga replied, opening her holotop and showing them the homepage of Heaven's main news outlet. The page featured an image of the angel she saw last night with a headline that read, VALKYRIE SPEAKS OUT! GRANTERS BEING 'SYSTEMATICALLY SLAUGHTERED!'

"What?!" Gaeriel cried.

Urd took the holotop and read part of the story aloud. "'Lieutenant Gaeriel, 507th Winged Infantry Regiment, was part of a secret Combat Division operation designed to stop whatever was killing wish granters. In a phone interview last night, Gaeriel said the mission was a stunning failure that resulted in the loss of two valkyries.'"

"I said nothing of the kind!" Gaeriel cried. She handed Frigga her cell phone. "See for yourself!"

Urd continued reading as Frigga checked the valkyrie's recent calls. "'I just barely survived,' Gaeriel said. 'Whatever they are, they are more powerful than anything we have. If it wasn't for my angel holding it off, I'd be comatose right now.' Gaeriel said when her superiors decided to cover up the failure and the existence of this new threat, she had to go public. 'I just couldn't let anyone else die for our mistakes.'"

Gaeriel's eyes went wider at each word.

"It wasn't you," Frigga said, closing the cell phone.

"OF COURSE IT WASN'T!"

"It was _them_," Urd hissed. "Someone called the news agency pretending to be Gaeriel and planted the story."

"What makes you say that?" Frigga asked.

Urd grimaced in angry disgust. "That part about Gaeriel's angel saving her life. Now everyone who reads this and comes across one of these things is going to think calling forth their angel will save them." She shook her head. "It's like saying pigeons scare away cats," she spat.

Suddenly, Gaeriel's cell phone rang. Checking the return number, the valkyrie bit her lip nervously.

"Who is it?" Urd asked.

"Gwydion sensei," she whimpered. "Excuse me." She rose and went into the next room.

Frigga rubbed her temples. "It's a catastrophe," she sighed.

"You've done everything you can," Urd told her sympathetically. "It's the Combat Division's job now."

"Freya called me," her stepmother told her. "She said those valkyries were supposed to grant wishes the Help Line was supposed to grant." She looked down at the ground. "I don't know whether to feel horribly guilty at that or relieved that none of my girls were there."

When Gaeriel reentered the room, the look on her face was one of extreme, almost vengeful anger.

"What did you friend say?" Urd asked.

"Don't ask," she grumbled. She turned as Peorth entered the room. "You," she began. "I have some questions." It was obvious she was in no mood to be denied.

Peorth crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

"How did you know I was in trouble last night?" the valkyrie asked.

"I just did," Peorth replied just as snottily. "I had a dream if you must know."

"And how did you know where I was?"

"I checked the Wish List through the Earth Help Center intranet page."

"And you're cleared for that access?"

Peorth paused. To be perfectly truthful, she wasn't. Being an Yggdrasil sysop had its advantages. "I have a password, don't I?" she finally replied. Not the truth, but not a lie either.

Gaeriel bit her lip and looked down at the table. "If this dream helped you find me last night, we might be able to use it again. You could help us."

Peorth felt a flash of anger run through her. Yet another valkyrie just assuming she would help her. She started for the kitchen.

"I'm busy," she said. "I already have a client."

Gaeriel watched, shocked, as Peorth left the room.

"I can't believe her," she whispered. "She has a duty..."

"Don't push her," Urd advised. "She's not the biggest fan of the Combat Division right now." She leaned back and smiled. "Besides, _I_ can help you!"

"You can?" Gaeriel asked, blinking.

"Mm hmm," Urd agreed with a Cheshire Cat grin. "But just make sure I'm back by five... I have plans tonight."

888

Peorth's mind wandered as she walked into the living room, nearly knocking Skuld over as the young goddess rushed up to her.

"Hey!" Skuld cried.

"Excusez moi!" Peorth replied. "I didn't see you."

The young woman waved it aside. "No problem! So what are we going to do today?! The prom is tomorrow night!"

Peorth saw the excitement in the girl's eyes and couldn't help but smile. She placed a hand on her shoulder. "Dancing, of course," she said. "And tomorrow your hair."

"But we did dancing," Skuld said. "I've even been practicing with Banpei kun..."

"That was formal ballroom slow dancing," Peorth told her. "Now you have to learn the high-tempo, mating ritual kind of tribal dancing that these events are known for."

Skuld blinked. "Should... Should I bring a headdress or something?"

Peorth smiled. "I'll let you know. But that will be later this afternoon. I have an errand to run."

"Oh? Can I come?"

The love goddess frowned. "Not this time. I have to talk to a valkyrie about a mutual friend."

888

He found Hild, not in her quarters as usual, but in a room next door, one Metheus thought had been empty. When he entered, he saw the arch-demoness standing at the far wall comparing wall paper strips.

"Your Majesty?" he asked tentatively.

"Inquisitor," she greeted in return, not turning to him.

After a long pause, he broke in again. "May I ask, Your Majesty?"

Now she turned, smiling at him. "I am preparing my new daughter's room. Which do you think?" She held up two strips of wall paper designs.

He felt a chill run through him. Metheus knew Hild was a divine representation of evil, but the casual way she went about preparing for ripping a young woman away from her loved ones... disconcerted him.

"The blue," he finally said. "I believe she's fond of blue."

"Glorious," Hild breathed.

"You summoned me, Your Majesty?"

"Yes," she said, putting the swatches down and picking up an infopad. She handed it to him. "I want the target list expanded."

He looked over the list and took a breath. "You realize, Your Majesty, these are heavy treaty violations. If we're compromised, it will lead to open warfare."

"Good!" Hild agreed. "But it won't come to that. More's the pity. In order for war to be declared, Heaven would have to agree to toss out the Doublet System. The moment they do, our Hellriders would be striking at every moving deity for six realms. Creation has become used to functioning in a peaceful environment. It's become soft. Heaven would do _anything_ to avoid giving up their safety blanket. Even tolerate your antics."

He considered this. She was right in many ways, but it was still risky.

"It shall be done, Your Majesty," he said.

"Oh, one more thing," she said as she turned back to the wall. "I've grown tired of waiting. I want my new daughter here in three days." She turned to him. "You may go now."

He bowed again. "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

888

"Nyd?"

The healer looked up and adjusted his glasses. "Urd?! I mean..." He composed himself quickly. "I mean... hello... hi..."

Urd couldn't keep the corners of her lips from quirking up at the reaction. When she wasn't concentrating on the fact that he was ripping away her freedom of choice, she had to admit he was almost cute... for a nerdboy.

"I've... uh... been working on the data I got from Jethsemanie, and I..." He bit his lip. "I'm sorry. I've got nothing. She's simply... She's simply gone."

"It's okay, Nyd," she said. "I know you're doing your best."

He paused. Urd was being nice to him. Which meant that even as they spoke, kawaii goddess ninjas were undoubtedly sneaking up behind him...

Urd watched him turn quickly and looked behind him. "Um... Nyd?"

"Yes!" he cried, turning back. "I mean... thank you..."

The goddess took a breath. "Look...I... um... I owe you one, for what happened with Frigga yesterday. It was my fault, pushing you on that date with Megumi, and I...um... I was thinking... maybe I could make it up to you... with... food..."

"Oh," he said quietly. "I... um... I like food."

"Yeah, me too," Urd said, feeling like a complete idiot. She was well-versed in the seductive arts, so why was this so hard?

"So..." he said.

"Yeah, so... Maybe we could have dinner?"

He wasn't sure what to say. "Yeah," he breathed. "That... That would be great."

Urd offered him a genuine smile. "Okay. Six o'clock." With that, she turned and walked out, leaving a very confused young healer behind.

888

Peorth sat in the booth at the bar and checked her watch again. She knew it was a long shot, but it was the only shot she had left. She couldn't go to Gaeriel with what she knew, what she _thought_ she knew anyway...

"Have you been waiting for me?"

The love goddess looked up and found Miranda standing there, a look of genuine puzzlement on her face.

"Believe it or not, oui," Peorth said slowly. "I... I need to talk to you..."

She expected the valkyrie officer to laugh in her face or ask questions. Instead, she took the seat across from Peorth and lit a cigarette.

"How did you find me?" Miranda asked.

"The drug store is in this same neighborhood as the bar where you first found me," Peorth told her. "I figured you have a place here."

The valkyrie merely nodded.

Peorth swallowed nervously. She was taking a huge risk, but there was something about Miranda that set her apart from Gaeriel or Lind. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"You're different from the others," Peorth blurted. "That's the only reason I'm here. I can't tell anyone else, but you... You might be able to tell me if I'm crazy or not."

"All right," Miranda said, still confused but willing to play along.

The love goddess took a breath. "I think Wynn is still alive," she whispered.

Miranda sat back in the booth and waited for Peorth to continue.

"I've been having dreams about him," she went on. "He warned me about an attack last night. You know about the attacks on granters that have been going on?"

The valkyrie glanced down at the table, and it was in that moment that Peorth's fear was confirmed.

"It's them, isn't it?" she asked. "It's Wynn and the rest of The Seven..."

"It's _possible_," Miranda relented.

Peorth shook her head. "I don't understand," she hissed quietly. "How? How can they be so powerful? They..." She shook her head. "I don't even know the word for it, but they did it to two valkyries last night and would have done it to a third if I hadn't been there!"

Miranda looked down at the table and took a breath. "Wynn... The Seven," she began. "They were all that remained of a unit of thirty valkyries by the time the war wound down." She took a soothing drag on her lucky, trying to think of the best way to word it.

"Before I commanded that unit, I was a Helljumper, Special Operations Forces. The elite of the elite." She paused. "I don't know how much Wynn told you or how closely you followed the war, but conscript units were only used for certain missions." She proceeded carefully, but finally decided to just come out and say it. "They were considered expendable," she finally said. "'Meat Shields,' they called them. When I took over the Fifty-Eighth, I found their lack of training unacceptable and the attitude that they didn't deserve more... deplorable."

"I can't believe that," Peorth whispered.

Miranda nodded. "So I trained them as I was trained. I taught them things no other conscript had even heard of and most regular troops had never seen. I taught them things they technically weren't allowed to know. I made them experts in guerilla warfare. While most conscript units were reporting horrific losses, the Fifty-Eighth was making a name for itself as one of the best line units in theater."

A look of pain crossed the valkyrie's face. "I taught them to be the best. With bows, with swords, with their bare hands. I taught them to kill so well... it became natural. That's why they were chosen to be The Seven. They were already so close to what the demons were... and already so close to being rampant."

She looked up at Peorth's stunned face. "That's why I was taken off the mission," she confessed. "I found out why they were chosen. When I told my superiors that I intended to scrub the mission, they took away my command and threw me in lock-up until the rest of the team had left."

Peorth shook her head. "I don't understand... How did they..."

Guilt shrouded the valkyrie's face. "It was my fault," she whispered. "There was a reason conscripts weren't allowed to learn the things I taught them. There are strict standards that have to be met psychologically. Helljumpers and regular forces have to meet them. Conscripts did not."

She paused and looked downward, unwilling to meet Peorth's eyes. "I drove them rampant," she confessed quietly.

888

Keiichi stopped the motorcycle and hopped off, turning to help Belldandy out of the sidecar.

"This should just take a minute," he said. "Senpai asked me to pick up an order he made." He walked up to the entrance of the auto parts store and opened the door expectantly, waiting for Belldandy to walk through it ahead of him. Instead, she stood on the sidewalk, her gaze locked on the store next door.

"Keiichi," she said with a smile. "I'm going to wait in here, okay?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug. "I'll just be a minute."

"Hai," she replied, walking next door. He didn't see what store it was, just assuming it was a clothing store or something else that caught his girlfriend's eye. Turning, he walked into the auto parts store.

Belldandy watched him disappear into the store before walking next door and entering the little boutique she noticed when they pulled up. The bells on the door rang merrily as stepped inside and started to wander aimlessly through the store.

The sales girl behind the counter smiled. "Welcome to Babies Abound," she greeted the goddess. "Are you looking for something in particular?"

Belldandy shook her head and smiled. "No, thank you."

888

The ten-year-old boy sat on the park bench and relished the sight of his ice cream cone. On a day like this, where the sun could melt ice cream _just enough_ to make it a little soft without making it drip all over his hand, a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone was pure bliss.

However, before he could take that first lick, a shadow fell over him, a hand reached down, and his ice cream cone was smashed into his face. The boy looked up in shock as a blonde woman with red marks on her face looked down at him and pointed a finger in his face.

"You remember me _forever!_"

With that, Marller walked off, feeling better than she had in ages. The market was up twelve whole points! Demons were gaining ground at a geometric rate. It was a good time to be a demon.

Passing a man carrying a large birthday cake, she snapped her fingers and the man went sprawling, falling right on top of the giant pastry.

Yes, indeed, a great day...

As she passed an alleyway, a pair of hands reached out and grabbed her, yanking her into the alley and behind a dumpster. Before she could react, a soul blade was placed at her throat.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" she cried.

The blonde woman holding the soul blade just glared at her while Urd, standing nearby, smiled.

"Hi, Marller!" she gushed like an old sorority sister she hadn't seen in years. ""What a surprise!"

"Urd!? What in the Dark Lady's name are you doing?!"

The love goddess grinned. "Well, my friend here... Oh, I'm sorry. Marller, Gaeriel. Gaeriel, Marller. Anyway, Gaeriel here was asking me if I knew anyone who could tell her just what was going on with all the attacks on granting goddesses, and it just hit me!" She bopped the side of her head with the palm of her hand. "My old, dear friend Marller was just the person we needed to speak to!"

"I don't know anything about that!" Marller cried indignantly.

Urd tsk'd. "I'm pretty sure you do. You know _something_ is up... you're just not sure what..."

"You think they tell us everything?" Marller asked.

"No, but I bet they tell you _something_," Urd countered. "Come on. Out with it. We need _something_. You see, poor Gaeriel's career is kind of on the line, so if she doesn't go back to Heaven with some nugget of information, she's going to be displeased..."

"Real displeased," Gaeriel agreed, pressing the soul blade more firmly against the demon's neck.

Marller sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything you know about these attacks," Urd told her.

"I told you, I don't know anything about them! It's not my department!"

"Then whose department is it?!" Gaeriel demanded.

Marller grimaced. "_If_ it was us, and I stress the 'if,' it would fall under the Special Projects Directorate. They've been expanding and working overtime ever since the High Inquisitor returned."

Urd nearly broke her neck doing a double take. "What was that last part?" she asked.

"What?" Marller asked. "They've been working over..."

"No, I mean about the High Inquisitor," Urd elaborated.

"Lord Metheus?" Marller asked. "Yeah, Her Majesty placed Special Projects under the Inquisition so he runs both now."

Urd's eyes were wide with shock. "Wy... Metheus is dead," she corrected herself.

Marller snorted. "Tell him that..."

Gaeriel looked over at Urd. "You said he was dead," she gasped. "That he died in The Spark..."

"He _did_ die in The Spark," Urd growled. She approached her old friend. "This is some kind of con job..."

"What are you two talking about?!" Marller demanded.

Urd stood toe-to-toe with her. "You're one hundred percent sure it's Metheus?" she asked.

The demon shivered. "You know better than to ask that," she whispered. "You know as well as I do... when the High Inquisitor looks at you with that eye of his..." She shook her head. "He's the last demon you want looking your way."

"This is a problem," Urd whispered.

"This is a _huge_ fucking problem!" Gaeriel cried. "That fucking rampant is still on the loose!?"

"Hey, what are you..." Marller began, but was cut off when Gaeriel clocked her across the jaw, knocking her out.

She turned to Urd. "Saw it in a dream, my _ass_!" she growled, sheathing her soul blade. She started down the alleyway.

"Where are you going?!" Urd called after her.

"To arrest Peorth for high treason!" Gaeriel called back.

888

"What were you going to do?" Peorth asked her quietly.

Miranda looked up at her and shook her head. "Not enough," she said. "Once upon a time, I had hoped to lead a team into Hell to extract them..." She paused. "But Division refused to greenlight it. I persisted, and they cut me out of the loop. That's why I approached you. You're the only one who might have some knowledge, some useful intel I can use."

The love goddess sat back, and thought hard. She had resisted helping this woman back when her only crime was being a valkyrie. Now she had confessed to actually causing Wynn's rampancy. What reason could she possibly find to help her now?

_Because maybe if they had allowed Wynn the chance to atone, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with..._

"I think..." Peorth began, unsure at first, but finding strength as she went on. "I think there's three of them." Miranda looked up at that. "I remember Frigga mentioning that Wynn told her there were only three of The Seven still alive." She licked her lips. "And the attacks the past few nights have all come in threes."

"What else?" Miranda asked quietly.

"I think there's a reason why it's them doing this and not Hellriders or Elites," Peorth went on. "I think it's their angels."

"What about them?" the valkyrie asked.

Peorth looked down at the table. She hadn't told anyone about Lucky Jack. Urd knew, having seen him twice with her own eyes, but hadn't told anyone else. Peorth didn't think she saw the connection.

"Their angels have... twisted," Peorth went on. "At least... At least Wynn's did. It's... It's become some kind of monster. And the one I saw last night was the same way. I think that's how they do it. I think for some reason, only an angel can truly kill another angel."

"What else?!" Miranda pressed.

She almost told her about Gorgeous Rose bonding with Lucky Jack but stopped herself, shaking her head. "That's all I know."

Miranda took a breath. "Three of them," she said. "Three more than I expected, four less than I had hoped."

"What will you do now?" Peorth asked.

The valkyrie officer stood up. "I'll find a way to bring them home."

888

He knew he was in trouble when he saw the sign over the door of the shop Belldandy had entered. Pushing the door to Babies Abound open, he stepped inside and checked down each aisle until he found her.

Belldandy was standing over an oak crib, her hand on the rail as she looked down at the empty floor model. Stepping up next to her, he reached over and covered her hand with his own.

"Belldandy?" Keiichi asked softly.

She smiled. "Just browsing," she said.

"Um... Is there something you... er... need to tell me?" he asked.

The goddess looked over at him and blinked. "I don't think so. Why?"

He took a relieved breath. "I just... Well, you seemed so thoughtful... and you're in here... and... well..."

A blush suffused her face, neck and chest, and the goddess looked down at the crib, a warm smile crossing her face. "You thought I might be with child?" she asked.

He shrugged, his lips quirking up in a half-smile. "It happens when you least expect it, you know."

She shook her head. "No, Keiichi. But I do admit, it _has_ been on my mind a great deal of late." Belldandy again looked up at him. "Does the idea displease you?"

Keiichi shook his head. "No, it doesn't."

The goddess looked down at the crib again. "Good," she whispered. "I'm glad. I hope to have many children; sons who are kind and brave..."

"... With bushy eyebrows and a little on the short side?" he asked.

Her smile intensified. "And daughters with brown eyes and chestnut hair perhaps..."

"You _should_ be a mother," he said. She turned to him in surprise at this statement. "You seem so... suited... for it," he explained. "You have that quality, that ability to know exactly the right thing to say. You know how to be firm without raising your voice or saying an unkind word. It's like it's a role you were born to play."

"Keiichi," she gasped out.

"What?" he asked, turning and seeing tears in her eyes. "What? Are you okay?"

Her hand covered her mouth. "No one... _No one_... has ever said such a nice thing to me..."

He blinked. "I... I don't think so," he said. "It's just what I think..."

"In Heaven, roles are very important," Belldandy told him. "What you just said...It's wonderful to hear." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Do you really think that?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Yeah, I do."

She paused, wiping at her eyes. "Keiichi, can we go home now?"

He blinked. "Um... I really do have a few more errands..."

"I need you to make love to me," she said.

"... that can definitely wait until tomorrow," he finished. He looked at her as she smiled at him. When they first met, she had told him he had been chosen to receive Heaven's grace. He was never really sure what that term meant... until now. He hadn't just received a wish when Belldandy came to live with him. He had quite literally received the absolute best Heaven had to give. And he knew if he really understood that, he needed to spend the rest of his life making himself worthy of it.

He held his hand out to her. "Come on," he whispered. "Let's go home."

She grabbed his hand and let him lead her out of the store. As they passed the front counter, the sales girl waved.

"Come back soon!" she called out.

"Hai!" Belldandy cried over her shoulder in reply.


	9. She Don't Know Me

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG.

Foreword: Thank you to everyone who sent their best wishes for my son. He's doing a little better today, and we hope it won't take much more than a week for him to come home. As usual, special thanks to WillZ and Exp.626.Fan for prereading this.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 9**_

_**She Don't Know Me**_

* * *

**"If 'hate' is such a strong word, then why do we toss around 'love' like it's nothing?"**

_Anonymous_

* * *

"Woah! Hold on!" Urd cried, grabbing the valkyrie by the shoulder and whirling her around to face her. "Treason?!"

"Come on, Urd!" Gaeriel shot back. "Let's take a look at the evidence here! Who knew the attack was taking place? Who just happened to have access to the exact information Wynn and his band of demons would need to jump us? Who's had an ongoing romantic relationship with the High Inquisitor of the demonic world?!"

"It's all circumstantial," Urd told her quietly, deciding reason was the best course of action here.

"That's an awful lot of circumstances," Gaeriel told her, folding her arms over her chest.

"Here's a few others you should think about," Urd told her. "Who led a healer into a guarded hospital to try to help Jethsemanie even before Heaven knew about these attacks? Who nearly got herself killed trying to keep Wynn from defecting after he sealed you? Who saved your ass in Hawaii when, given your short history, the smart thing to do would be to let one of those things eat your angel?"

Gaeriel let out a breath. "She's involved," she finally hissed. "I _know_ it!"

Urd looked down at the ground for a moment and finally found a strategy worth trying. "Maybe she is," she relented. "But to what extent?" Gaeriel looked at her suspiciously as Urd suddenly started taking her side. "I'd bet my love goddess cert that there is _some_ connection between her and Wynn still in effect. I don't think she's helping them, but she is connected somehow. Now that might not be what you want to believe, but it still might help us fight it!"

She gave the valkyrie a few moments to digest this. Finally, Gaeriel looked up. "What do you think we should do?"

Urd took a few steps as she thought on the question. "Your job is to gather information, right?" At Gaeriel's nod she continued. "Peorth and Wynn are connected... on an almost..." She shook her head as she tried to come up with a good way to word it. "On an almost cosmic level. Eventually, the two of them are going to cross stars again. We just have to be there when it happens."

"So... stick close to Peorth and wait for Wynn to contact her?"

"Well... We know for sure he isn't shy," Urd told her.

888

Peorth had to admit she felt better. Miranda wasn't a perfect listener, but she favored action... any action... over allowing the status quo to continue. The two had spoken, each making their confessions as it pertained to Wynn and The Seven, and had agreed to coordinate their efforts.

Miranda held her cards close to her vest. She wanted to go in, get the three remaining rampants, and somehow convince them to come back, though she didn't tell Peorth how she planned to do this. Still, it was a hell of a lot better than the alternative; sit around and do nothing while they kill more angels.

They had parted ways with a promise to stay in contact and to not divulge their alliance to anyone else. With a valkyrie sleeping across the hall, Peorth decided that would be best. Either way, it had helped to lift her spirits enough to smile as she prepared for Skuld's next lesson in the womanly arts.

"Now," Peorth began, "Slow dancing and fast dancing are two entirely different animals..."

Skuld held up a hand and smiled. "No problem. I got this."

"Ah bon?" Peorth asked.

"Yup!" Skuld replied. "Oneesama taught me everything she knows."

Peorth blinked. "I see. Show me then."

Skuld stepped from side to side to a silent beat. "You start slow," Skuld said. "Then..." She held out both hands in front of her and shook her hips from side to side. "You Banish the Demon!" She repeated the move. "Banish the Demon!"

The love goddess had to mentally wrestle the muscles in her face to keep from laughing as Skuld continued.

She continued moving to the silent rhythm and brought her hands over her head before bringing them down to her right side, then her left. "Then you Smash the System Bug..."

Peorth held up a finger. "Stop. Who taught you these abominations?"

Skuld blinked. "Oneesama."

"I see," Peorth replied. "Skuld, I want you to listen to me, okay?" At the girl's nod, she continued. "Now, there are a great many things your sister knows, and I know you like to emulate her. So, the next time you're at a social gathering where there's going to be dancing, and you get that urge to emulate your big sister, I want you to do one thing... for me, okay?" She cleared her throat and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Never... _ever_... do that again. Okay?"

"Okay..." Skuld said dejectedly.

"Non, non, non," Peorth said quickly. "I need to know you understand, so I need to actually hear you say it..."

Skuld looked down at her feet. "Never dance like Oneesama."

"Bon. Now, let's start from the beginning..."

888

Keiichi took a deep breath as he came to his senses, blinking up at the ceiling above him as Belldandy snuggled into the crook of his arm.

"I think I passed out a couple of times," he admitted.

She replied by nuzzling his neck. "Only twice," she whispered. "I took care of you."

"It's never been like that before," he said. It was an understatement. Normally, their lovemaking was slow, soft and tender. This time they had clung to one another desperately as if one of them was going to disappear any moment and they only had one day left together.

She wrapped an arm around him.

He took another breath. "I can hear music playing," he said with a soft chuckle, think it was in his head.

"It's Peorth," Belldandy told him. "She's teaching Skuld to dance."

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "They've been hanging out a lot together lately."

Belldandy paused just long enough for Keiichi to figure out there was something wrong there. "What is it?" he asked.

For a moment, she wouldn't speak. Then, seeming to come to a decision on exactly how much of Peorth's privacy to violate, she explained. "I think Peorth is using Skuld to fill the void in her life left by Wynn's death."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Perhaps not," she allowed. "But eventually they'll part and the void will return. I wish there was something I could do for Peorth." She hugged Keiichi tighter. "I can only imagine what it would be like if something hap..." She broke off.

"Hey," he whispered, taking her hand. "We've been through this. Nothing's going to happen to me. I'm not going anywhere." He smiled. "My wish was for you to remain by my side, and you're just going to have to get used to it."

She smiled. "You say it as if it were a bad thing," she accused him.

"You're the one preoccupied with me going away," he said. She looked away, embarrassed by the truth in the statement.

"I just need it to sink in," she said. "In the meantime, I'm going to follow Moder's advice."

"Which was?"

She kissed him deeply. "Love when you can, and never pass up an opportunity to be with you," she whispered.

888

Urd closed the door to her room and could hear the music playing in Skuld's. She blinked as she heard Peorth's voice call out over the sound of the dance music.

"Bon! Remember, you're a woman! You have hips! Use them!"

Rolling her eyes, she started for the living room. She was glad she managed to keep Gaeriel from doing something stupid, but wondered if she wasn't doing her little sister a disservice by not getting Peorth's idea of teaching as far away from her as she could.

Sighing in resignation, she decided to give up on other people's problems for one day and concentrate on her own. She wore her hair up, and unlike the positively horrid dress she wore on their last "date," this time she was in a long black number. She was shooting for elegant rather than sexy.

She entered the living room and found him clumsily fiddling with his tie, unaware of her presence for the moment.

_There's still time to back out,_ her mind told her. _Just go back to your room, make some retching sounds and pretend to be sick!_

She only gave the idea a passing thought. This was her suggestion, after all. And Peorth was right about one thing. He was a nice guy, which also made Keiichi right when he said they were out there if you looked hard enough.

"Nyd," she said in greeting.

He turned, his tie flying over his shoulder. "Urd!" he cried in surprise. "You look... I mean... you're..."

"Hideous?" Urd asked, having some fun with the god.

"No! That's not what I meant at all! You're... I mean..."

He stopped and took a breath, seeming to give up for a moment before quietly saying. "You're beautiful."

Before she could tease him further, Frigga had walked into the room. She saw the both of them and blinked. "What's going on?"

Urd froze. "Uh oh," she breathed.

Frigga's face lit up and she clasped her hands in front of her. "You're going out together!" She suddenly turned and dashed down the hall. "My camera! I need my camera!"

Urd grabbed Nyd's hand and dragged him to the front door. "Let's get the hell the out of here!" she cried.

The queenly god managed to shoot around the corner and take a picture as they ran, the flash just managing to catch one of Nyd's shoes as Urd dragged him outside.

"DAMN!" she cried.

888

The restaurant was a step down from the one they had gone to earlier, but still nice with a cozier atmosphere. The lights were dimmed to give the impression of candlelight, and soft music played from speakers overhead. Not quite four stars, but a very respectable three.

Nyd's foot tapped against the carpet as he nervously sipped at his water. He was so far out of his element, he couldn't even _see_ his element from where he sat.

Good God, how did he get to this? He almost preferred it when Urd hated his guts. At least it didn't require him to know what to do. Being hated was easy. What _was_ he supposed to do?

Urd, meanwhile, looked totally nonchalant, reading over the menu and seemingly paying no attention to the jittery god across from her.

"I stole that credit card from Belldandy," Urd told him. "So order whatever you like," she told him.

_Is there anything on that menu that kills butterflies? Because my stomach is full of them,_ he thought.

He managed to get through ordering his dinner without fumbling or saying anything stupid and decided to call it a victory. While they waited for their food, Urd refilled her wine glass.

"So," she said. "Tell me about yourself."

"Oh," he said. "Well... There's not a whole lot to tell," he said, hiding behind his water glass.

She sipped at her wine. "Why healing?" she asked.

He blinked. "Because it helps people," he said. It was the most confident thing he'd said yet.

"And that's all?" she asked. She finished the wine off and started to refill the glass.

His face fell just a bit. "You shouldn't drink so much," he told her.

She grinned. "Why? Because it's bad for my health?"

The healer looked away. "No," he said. "It dulls your eyes."

Urd blinked. "Huh?"

"Your eyes," he said quietly, still not looking at her, embarrassed as hell by what he was saying. "Your eyes shine. When you drink... the shine dulls."

She stared at him, not sure if she was being lectured to or complimented. Finally, she put the bottle aside. "All right," she said. "I'll be beautiful for you. But one dirty habit in exchange for another."

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

She leaned over the table. "I want you to look at me," she said.

"I... I do," he said even as he looked away again.

The goddess took his chin in her hand and pulled his gaze back to her. "Look in my eyes when you speak to me," she said.

"Okay," he said, entranced.

She stared into his eyes. "What did you mean when you said you'd make it up to me?"

He glanced away.

"Look at me," she commanded. "Tell me."

His eyes found her again, and he swallowed nervously. "Just... that... I don't want you to be miserable," he said. "I don't want to be the one causing you pain... so... if in order for you to be happy you needed me to walk into the bush and let you... well... follow your own path... even though we'd be married... I would... I could still do that for you..."

The statement put it all in perspective for her. Saddled with the Pairing just as she was, he was trapped with the possibility of a loveless marriage. But while she had concentrated her efforts on getting out of the engagement, he had concentrated on trying to find a way to make it work, to make her satisfied by it somehow. And if that meant going off into the jungles and leaving her to her own devices, the two of them married in name only, he was willing to do that. It made her feel just a little ashamed.

She glanced over at the dance floor and turned back to him. "You wanna dance?" she asked.

"D...Dance?" he stammered.

"Don't play dumb," she warned him. "I know Peorth taught you."

"You... saw that?"

She nodded. "Come on."

888

"Define... 'broken,'" Carestia asked with an evil gleam in her eye.

Leaning over a table-top map in his office, Metheus didn't bother to look up when he said, "That's not your job in this, it's mine."

The demoness pouted. "You never let me have any fun," she complained.

He ignored her and began the mission briefing. "Her Majesty has run out of patience, and with the... escalation... we began today, the time to move has come." He waved his hand and holograms of two people appeared on the table. "Standard snatch-and-grab, one tier-one and one tier-three personality." He looked up. "Primary target is a goddess first class, commercial license. Valkyrie presence in the area is low, but there are several other commercial goddesses in the area. Drawing this goddess away from them will be integral to the operation."

Sitting on the other side of the table, Krieg took notes while Carestia looked bored.

"Step One is bait," Metheus continued. "Krieg, that's you. Grab Keiichi Morisato quietly and hold him at this point." He pointed at the map.

"I could do that," Carestia told him. "It'll be fun."

"No," Metheus said. "Too many possible... complications... from a woman getting near him."

Not sure what this meant, Carestia merely shrugged.

"Step Two will have us draw the target to this area." He pointed at the map again. "I'll handle that. At the same time, Nidhogg will initiate a brute force attack against Yggdrasil's firewall and upload a Compass Call program that will jam communications to the Earth realm, making sure we're not disturbed."

"Step Three will involve the actual capture operation," he continued. "Carestia, that's you. Engage the target and subdue her... But she is not to be permanently damaged."

She bowed. "It will be as you wish, My Lord," she purred.

"Krieg and I will provide sniper overwatch and see that the target doesn't escape. Time from operation start to RTB no more than eight hours. We step tomorrow at 1500 Earth time. Questions?"

"Who gets to break her?" Carestia asked like a dog unwilling to give up a bone.

Metheus gave her a frosty glare. "The Inquisition will see to it."

"I understand that," she replied with a hint of acid. "I mean who in the Inquisition?"

He tapped a button on his desk. "Tabitha, would you come in here, please?"

The door opened, and Carestia turned to get a glimpse of Metheus' best interrogator. What she saw caused her face to fall. "Oh, you have to be kidding me..."

A dark-haired girl no older than six entered, clutching a teddy-bear in her hands. Her raven-black hair hung behind her back in a pony-tail and she wore a simple blue dress.

"I'm intimidated already," Carestia told him with a yawn.

The girl, Tabitha, turned back to the door. "Hurry up, Mr. Bubbles! Our Lord Inquisitor waits for us!"

Something out of sight beyond the doorway made a sound like a foghorn and the floor rumbled beneath them. Carestia nearly jumped as a huge, armor-suited figure pushed against the doorframe, unable to enter due to its massive bulk. It looked like a deep-sea diver, wearing a bronze helmet with several port holes that glowed in an eerie blue light. A giant drill was mounted on its right hand.

Tabitha stomped her foot. "Mr. Bubbles! You are keeping the Inquisitor waiting!"

The creature hooted mournfully and pushed against the doorframe, gouging marks into the stone. Finally inside, Tabitha turned her attention away from it and bowed to Metheus.

"My Lord High Inquisitor, I exist to carry out your will in pursuit of Her Majesty's desires. How may I be of service?" Behind her Mr. Bubbles hooted his agreement.

Metheus smiled. "Captain Carestia here wanted to meet you. She has some concerns about your interrogation abilities."

"Would the captain care for a demonstration?" Tabitha squeaked, holding her teddy bear tightly as the drill on Mr. Bubbles' hand whirred to life.

Carestia arched an eyebrow. "Pass," she said.

"Rest assured," Metheus told her. "Between Tabitha and myself... Belldandy doesn't stand a chance."

888

_One... two... three... One... two... three..._ his mind chanted over and over as he tried valiantly not to step on Urd's feet.

Urd smiled. "Don't look now, Nyd, but you're leading."

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

Her smile fell. She wasn't sure if this self-esteem issue was a problem with everyone or just her. It wouldn't surprise her if it was unique to dealing with girls. Nyd struck her as the kind of guy who couldn't bring himself to speak to a woman unless he had to.

Nyd knew he was screwing this up. He just couldn't find a way out of the minefield, and being this close to her wasn't helping. Her body was warm, she smelled like violets and if he had known her eyes were going to affect him this way, he would have poured her more wine himself.

Unlike when he first practiced with Peorth, this time it took no effort to glance downward at Urd's chest. It just sort of... happened.

"Enjoying the view?" she asked.

His head snapped up so fast, he was sure he would break his neck. "No! Just..."

Her lips quirked up. "Look, Nyd, if we're going to..." She paused, searching for a good, ambiguous way to word it. "If we're going to continue to spend time together, we're going to have to lay down some ground rules."

The healer winced. Here it comes...

"First, stop apologizing to me," she said. "Not everything is your fault... Even though lately I've been... well... implying that it was..."

"I'm sor..." She glared at him, and he stopped himself. "Okay," he finished.

"Good," she went on. "Second, I don't want to hear anymore about you just up and disappearing. If we're going to do this, we're going to work it out together, all right?"

He swallowed and nodded.

"I mean... What do you want?" she asked. "What's the best-case scenario for this in your mind?"

The question threw him. "Well," he said slowly.

"Be honest," she warned him.

Remembering what she said earlier, he looked into her eyes. "I think the best I could hope for is a rocky start... then perhaps, over time... we grow to love one another."

She considered this. "So you _want_ this to work," she concluded.

The healer nodded quickly. "Very much so." He looked away again. "I'm not very good at this... I'm s..." He broke off.

She knew what his next question would be and decided to head him off before he could ask it. "And another thing," she said. "I'm proud of my body, so don't treat looking at me like a dirty act, all right?"

He blushed bright crimson, the question he was going to ask, what _her_ best-case scenario was, fled from his mind. Before he could recover, something on his belt started to beep.

Urd looked down and saw him remove a small black box. Looking at it, his eyes went wide.

"We have to go," he said, all the nervousness gone. "Now. Come on."

"What's going on?" Urd asked thrown off balance by the swift change in the otherwise mellow god. She stumbled forward as he took her hand and pulled her from the dance floor.

"I have to talk to Lind," he growled.

888

Peorth put her hands together and closed her eyes, adopting a solemn look like that on a shinto priest about to say a prayer.

"My dear, with the exception of your hair, which we can't do until tomorrow... you are ready."

Skuld let out a long breath. "You really think so?"

The love goddess smiled. "One hundred percent. You can speak, you can eat, you can dance, all as a young, sophisticated, and most importantly, attractive young woman should. Tomorrow we'll do your hair, and the rest, as they say, shall be history." She sighed, proud of her work. "Now then, what time is he picking you up tomorrow?"

Skuld's eyes went wide. "Picking me up?"

"Oui. What time?"

The young girl's eyes went wide. "Oh no," she breathed. "I was so excited about him asking me, that I just blurted 'yes,' and ran off!"

Peorth blinked. "And you haven't spoken to him since?"

"I've been busy with you!" Skuld cried.

The love goddess rubbed her temples and pointed at the phone. "Go and call him right now..."

Skuld dashed for the phone.

As Skuld spoke to Sentaro, apologizing profusely for not calling him earlier, Gaeriel slinked into the room.

"Peorth," she said in greeting.

"Lieutenant," the other goddess replied stiffly.

The valkyrie took a deep breath. "Look, I didn't thank you before... for saving me. So... thank you."

Peorth's eyes narrowed. Gaeriel thanking her? Something was up.

"Don't mention it," she said with a wave of her hand.

"These dreams," Gaeriel continued. "Do you know what they're about?"

"I told you, it was just a dream," Peorth replied.

"I see. Is it..."

Before she could finish, Nyd stormed into the room with a confused Urd trailing behind him. The healer was holding a PDA in his hand and an intense scowl on his face.

"I want to talk to your boss," he growled at Gaeriel. "Now!"

The valkyrie blinked. "What's going on?"

"Do you have a way to contact Lind or not?" he replied angrily.

"Yeah, hold on," she said. She went to the TV and started to fiddle with it.

"If you'll excuse us," Nyd said to the others. "I need some privacy with the commander."

The door linking the kitchen with the living room shut, leaving several confused goddesses marooned with no idea what was happening.

"What the heck was that about?" Skuld asked.

"I don't know," Urd replied, her confusion evident in her tone. "He got some kind of page while we were dancing and insisted we come home."

From the other side of the door, raised voices could be heard.

"I want to know how you intend to handle this!" Nyd was demanding. "Do you have any idea what kind of loss this represents!? Three healers! _Three!_ With a combined medical experience of more than five thousand years! Priceless experience!"

As the argument went on, Frigga walked in. "Urd! Honey! You're home early. Did things not go well?" Her expression drooped.

"No," she replied quietly, still watching the door and trying to listen. "Nyd got some kind of call."

"We are guaranteed protection as noncombatants by the Armistice!" Nyd was saying. "And as a result the Combat Division has countless times refused us protection! 'The demons won't violate the truce,' you said. 'They don't want a war anymore than we do,' you said! Well what do you say now?!"

"Oh dear," Frigga said, her hand going to her mouth. "I had heard more gods had been hit, but I wasn't aware they were healers."

"I have never heard anyone address the Commander like that," Gaeriel whispered. "I mean... who does he think he is?"

Urd's eyes narrowed as she turned to Frigga. "Good question. Just who _does_ Nyd think he is, Frigga?"

The queenly goddess blinked. "What? You don't know?"

"Know what?" Peorth asked.

Frigga sighed. "Girls, your generation really needs to pay more attention to Heavenly affairs..." She turned her attention to Urd. "Did you think I just grabbed the first bush doctor who showed himself?"

"Actually," Urd said, "I thought that was exactly what you did."

Frigga rubbed her temples. "Urd... Love... Darling... Honey... Sweetie..." she growled. "Nyd is the Vice Chairman, Deputy Surgeon General for Expeditionary and Inspiratory Medicine."

Blank looks.

"I didn't understand _half_ that," Skuld admitted.

"I need some aspirin," Frigga groaned. She turned a stern eye on them. "It means, girls, that Nyd is not _a_ med muse, he is _the_ med muse! The one all other medical muses draw their inspiration from. He is quite literally one of the greatest medical minds of our time!"

"And you didn't think this was something I might like to know?" Urd asked.

Frigga spread her arms wide in surrender. "You already thought I had pushed this Pairing for political reasons! The fact that he just so happened to be the number three healer in Heaven would only have cemented that idea, which is as untrue now as it was when I first told you!"

The queen took a breath. "It's no mystery that he's upset. Eir tells me he's always looked at the healers as his little brothers and sisters, and because of one line in that Armistice, they've spent the last thousand years fighting Vector Daemons without valkyrie support. It's a travesty."

Urd wasn't paying attention anymore. She was thinking about what she saw and heard for herself. She had seen this in him before, that boost of confidence when it came to his job, his role. It seemed that he had spent a great deal of his life learning how to be the best healer he could be, to serve Creation the best he could, at the expense of other parts of his life. Working on a wounded god, he was as sure about himself as he was that the Earth was round. Put him in front of a pretty girl and he was a hair's breadth from falling apart.

It was a shame. The confident Nyd was kind of attractive...

The door opened, and Nyd stepped through. Everyone just looked at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Is everything all right, son?" Frigga asked.

He grit his teeth in anger. "These whatever-they-are's attacked three med muses, two in Brazil, one in Somalia. It's a tragedy. A pure tragedy."

"Are you okay?" Urd asked.

He looked at her and shook his head. "They were supposed to be protected by the Armistice," he growled. "Only Vector Daemons can engage healers and vice versa. The only thing those three ever did was try to help people. Now..." He shook his head. "Everything they were... everything they knew... is lost."

"What will you do?" Urd asked.

Nyd looked at her with fire in his eyes. Yes, he was indeed a different man than before, she thought.

"I'm going to have the med muses pair up," he said. "And I'm going to tell them to engage _any_ demon they come across with extreme prejudice. They're not to take any risks."

"That's a treaty violation!" Frigga gasped. "Healers are noncombatants!"

"What else can I do?" he asked, exasperated. "Lind won't detail valkyries to protect them, says she needs them for other operations. She said I should pull them back to Heaven, well if I do that, you'll see twenty new different plagues pop up overnight!"

"Confidence in the healers would plummet," Peorth whispered.

"And the market would crash," Urd concluded.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Frigga," he told her. "It's not Lind's or your responsibility to protect them. It's mine. And I have to do what I must to do so."

He started for the hall, work on his mind, but he did stop next to Urd for a moment. "I did have fun," he told her, glancing at the floor. "While it lasted."

"Another time?" she asked.

The healer looked up and smiled, the fire in his eyes extinguished for now. "I'd like that." He glanced away again and started down the hall.

Urd turned and saw the remaining goddesses looking at her, grinning.

"What?" she asked, frowning at them.

"'Are you okay?'" Peorth asked, clasping her hands as she breathlessly imitated Urd.

"'What will you do, Nyd sama?'" Skuld threw in, her eyes sparkling.

Urd shook in rage and raised her hand...

888

"Look, Urd, I know you get mad, but we're running out of ceilings, okay?" Keiichi said, staring up at the hole that used to be the kitchen roof.

Arms folded over her chest, Urd's eyebrow twitched as she thought on it. "Look, Keiichi, you wouldn't understand, okay?"

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Keiichi cried. "Hold on a sec! You... _YOU_... are really going to stand there and tell me that I don't know what it's like to have a goddess come in, meddle in my love life, and constantly push me toward a relationship I might not be ready for? _You're_ really going to be the one to tell me that? With a straight face?"

Urd rubbed her temples. "Oh, jeez, I didn't even see the irony in this until just now," she moaned.

"I mean, jeez, Urd, if you want I can give you _lessons_!" he went on.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "What do I do?"

He took pity on her and gave her a helpful answer. "Look, Urd, I can't imagine what it's really like for you, okay? I mean, yeah you pushed us and even threatened me from time to time, but I always knew deep down that it was still my choice on what to do and when. The only thing I could tell you is this: It's your relationship, whatever that relationship turns out to be. So you should only do what you think is right _when_ you think it's right."

She growled. "I know," she finally said. "It's just so hard..."

"Why?"

Sighing, she turned to him. "Because I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. If I push back against this as hard as I can, I'm still going to lose, and I'll end up hurting a nice guy in the process. If I don't fight... hell, if I actually end up liking this guy... Frigga is vindicated and thinks she made the right decision. I lose again."

"If you do end up liking him," Keiichi said, "Is it really losing?"

She didn't know how to answer.

"Do you like him?" he pressed.

"He's too short to be a suitable lover," she replied, glancing at him with a smug grin.

Keiichi, who stood about three inches shorter than Nyd, grimaced. "Oh, screw you, Urd," he said, rolling his eyes.

She smiled. "I don't hate him," she relented.

"Heck, for a guy like Nyd, that's half the battle won," Keiichi told her. "I'm going to bed. I'll fix this tomorrow morning."

888

Miranda pulled a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and turned down the alleyway, making her way past several dumpsters and bags of trash as she lit the cancer stick. Taking a long drag, she leaned against the wall of an old factory near a cluster of shadows and waited.

It took several minutes, but as she smushed the stub of the cigarette against the wall, the shadow next to her moved, a pair of glowing red eyes appearing and turning toward her.

"Soon," Miranda told the demon, not bothering to look at it. "Be ready to move soon, when I contact you."

The eyes moved as the demon's head nodded, then it silently moved away.

The valkyrie lit another cigarette and took a long drag, letting it out slowly as she looked up at the moon.

"Soon," she whispered.


	10. Shot Through the Heart

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

Foreword: Yup, another update. And I'm about halfway through Chapter 13 as we speak. Idle hands and such...

**Choix**

_**Chapter 10**_

_**Shot Through the Heart**_

* * *

**"Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still.**

**Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still.**

**Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still.**

**Listen to the words long written down,**

**When the man comes around."**

_Johnny Cash_

_"The Man Comes Around"_

* * *

"Hasegawa san... did you forget your glasses?"

Keiichi saw the young Auto Club member glance up from her work on the go-kart's engine and grin broadly. "Nope!" she said, still giddy from knowing she wouldn't have to wear them ever again.

"Contacts?" he asked.

"Nah, your sister's boyfriend did some kind of mental mind whammy on me and cured my astigmatism!" she said. "It must be nice having a doctor in the family!"

Keiichi chuckled nervously. He made a note to talk to Megumi and see if she really thought of Nyd has her boyfriend. He doubted it, but from what he saw last night, Nyd was still hung up on Urd, and Urd was starting to warm up to him as well.

"Hand me that phillips head, would you, Senpai?" she asked.

As he handed her the screwdriver, the clubhouse door opened and the dean walked in followed by a larger, foreign man in a dark gray business suit.

"Dean!" Keiichi cried. "Um... Welcome to the Auto Club... Wow, you've never visited before..."

"THE DEAN?!" Hasegawa cried, hopping up from behind the go-kart.

The head of Nekomi Tech smiled. "Ah, Morisato kun. Just who we were looking for."

"Me?" Keiichi asked.

"Indeed, this is Mr. Hans Krieg. He's with the Japanese Space Program, working on a project with the Europeans."

"It's nice to meet you," Keiichi said, bowing to the gargantuan man.

"And you, Herr Morisato," Krieg said with a smile and outstretched hand. Keiichi took it and shook it. "Herr Morisato, I'm here on behalf of JSP to offer you an exciting opportunity, one which I'm sure will enrich your education and your life if you make the most of it."

"Me?" Keiichi asked.

"Yes," Krieg continued. "As I'm sure you know, the JSP and the European Space Agency is working on their own version of Mars rover, and we're recruiting students in engineering schools to act as interns for our engineers. An understanding of mechanical engineering concepts is needed, and I'm told you and your club here..." He looked around the clubhouse. "... are known for your... unorthodox designs. I'd like to discuss this with you over lunch. Interested?"

"Well... Yeah! Sure!" Keiichi cried. He turned to Hasegawa. "Do you think..."

She waved the question aside. "Go ahead, Senpai. I can finish this."

"Thanks, Hasegawa!" He turned back to the German. "All right, I'm all yours!"

Krieg smiled. "Of course you are."

888

Skuld was sure there was some kind of alien parasite in her stomach. She could feel it in there, trying to break through her sternum and make war on mankind. At least it felt like that. In reality, she was just nervous, even as she sat in the bath while Peorth sat behind her, working on her hair.

"What if he..." Skuld began.

"If you're not comfortable, tell him the time isn't right," she said, cutting her off.

"And what about when..."

"Just excuse yourself and go to the lady's room," the love goddess counseled.

"But what if..."

"Skuld, it's going to be fine," Peorth told her gently as she brushed her hair. "You're going to have a wonderful time."

The girl took a deep breath. "I know... I just..." She bit her lip. "I want to do it right tonight..."

"You will," Peorth said softly as she brushed.

"Were you ever this nervous?" Skuld asked, her voice cracking.

Peorth smiled. "Oui. The first time Wynn asked me on a 'real date,' I spent a week fretting about it, trying to find something perfect to wear, the perfect make-up, the perfect perfume... And you know what happened?"

"It was perfect?" Skuld asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I don't know," Peorth admitted. "Because once we left the house, I don't recall even thinking about it again. It will be the same with you."

"I hope so," Skuld breathed.

"Remember, you're supposed to have fun," Peorth told her. "And you don't have to do _all_ the work. Let him earn some of your attention as well."

Skuld nodded thoughtfully. "Okay."

Peorth leaned back. "Okay, take a look and tell me what you think."

Skuld stood up and looked in the mirror, her hand going to her hair, which was now pinned up with a braid that flowed down over her shoulder. "Oh, Peorth, I'm beautiful!"

"Oui," she agreed.

Skuld turned to her. "Are... Are you going to be there?"

"Be there?"

"Like, I don't know... Follow us around in a van and make sure I'm doing it right?"

The love goddess smiled. "Non, there's no need. You'll do fine."

The young goddess squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. "He's picking me up in an hour. I should get ready."

"Skuld?"

"Yeah, Peorth?"

Peorth smiled at her. "Merci," she said quietly.

"Um... I don't know what for, but okay." With that, the girl left the bath and headed for her room to get dressed.

The love goddess smiled. "No, I suppose you don't."

888

When the doorbell rang, it wasn't Skuld who ran skipping to answer it...

"He's here! He's here!" Frigga gushed as she rushed to the door, camera in hand. Urd and Peorth managed to grab her and pull her away as Skuld walked confidently past them in her dress and heels.

"Wait! I get to meet him!" Frigga cried, clicking away with her camera. "I'm a mother! IT'S MY RIGHT!" she screamed as the other two goddesses dragged her into a bedroom and shut the door.

Skuld took a breath and opened the door, silently thanking her sister and teacher. Sentaro stood there in a tan suit, his hair combed but still mussy despite his best efforts, and a corsage in hand. He saw Skuld and did a double take.

"Skuld!" he said, blinking. "Um... wow... You look... You look awesome!"

Remembering Peorth's lessons, Skuld smiled. "Why thank you," she said demurely. "Is that for me?"

"Huh?" he asked. "Oh! The flower! Yeah!" He fumbled with the red corsage and put it on her hand.

"It's beautiful," Skuld said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said. "Um... My dad is going to drive us. You wanna get dinner first?"

Skuld nodded. "Sounds wonderful."

"Great, let's go!"

As the door closed, Peorth and Urd stepped out of the bedroom, clapping their hands off as Frigga wailed behind them.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Urd asked her.

Peorth turned to her. "I'm going to follow Skuld around on her date. You?"

"I think Nyd and I are going to go out," Urd told her.

The love goddess grinned. "Ooh la la," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Seedy love hotel or parked up on Make-Out Mountain?"

Urd rolled her eyes. "Hey, you're the one who put me on this path."

"Just take it slow, all right, cheri?" Peorth begged. "He seems a little... fragile."

"I'll try not to break him," Urd said with a wave.

"Or yourself," Peorth cautioned.

Urd's expression turned serious. "How did you sleep last night?"

Thrown a little by the question, Peorth cocked her head. "All right," she said. "Better than the last few nights."

"Good," Urd said with a nod. She smiled again. "Well, have fun torturing my sister. I'll be back later tonight."

Peorth wandered into the kitchen, deciding to give Skuld and Sentaro a little time before she started her surveillance in full force. As she walked in, Belldandy was placing a bouquet of roses into a vase.

"Belldandy, those are beautiful!" Peorth remarked. "Secret lover?" she asked slyly.

The Norn couldn't control her smile no matter how hard she tried. Shaking her head, she turned to Peorth. "No, Keiichi sent them. He wants to meet me tonight. He said he has something important to ask me!"

Peorth did a double take. "Belldandy... do you think..."

Belldandy grabbed her hands. "I think so! I certainly hope so!" she cried.

The love goddess squeezed her hands. "Oh, Belldandy, I'm so happy for you!"

The Norn hugged her fiercely. "Thank you! This is your doing!"

"Nonsense!" Peorth sniffled. "You two were destined for this! Where?! When?!" she pleaded.

"At the school, tonight!" Belldandy replied.

"Why there?" Peorth asked.

"It's always been a special place for us," Belldandy told her.

"Well, for what it's worth, I hope your wish comes true, Belldandy."

The goddess sniffled and went back to adding water to the vase.

888

Streams of light linked overhead as the goddesses running the Yggdrasil Operations Center worked on the day-to-day running of the massive computer system. The World Tree ran every function in Creation, yet could be run by a mere three goddesses if necessary.

The three running it now were the night shift. While some Yggdrasil functions were intense and required a great deal of attention, the overwhelming majority of them: virus checks, defragging and system maintenance, were simple, if time consuming.

Epona checked her bored and sighed. "Nope," she said. "Still at seventy percent. This is taking forever!"

She leaned back in her chair and sulked. She hated the night shift...

Suddenly, every screen on her board went blue, and the goddess shot up in her chair. "What the..."

"Ma'am!" one of the techs cried from the station below hers. "Ma'am, we're detecting an intrusion into the network!"

"Dammit!" Epona cried. Those damn hack attacks again! "Cut it off and isolate the core!"

"We can't!" she heard the tech shout back. "This is a massive, brute force attack! These guys mean business! Every time I cut off a way in, they find another one!"

"Get Network Security up here before..."

Every screen on every panel went black.

"Uh oh..." Epona whispered.

Suddenly, a picture appeared on every screen. Epona looked down and saw an image of a black and white cat with a long tail sitting in an oak tree. A caption appeared over it. Epona blinked at the misspelled words and read it aloud.

"'I iz in yur Wurld Tree... Eat'n yur networkz..."

"Oh! What an adorable kitty!" one of the other techs cried.

Epona sighed and rubbed her temples. "Get Network Security up here and start cleaning this up."

It was going to be a long night.

888

So far she was having an awesome time.

They had dinner at a little quasi-nice café near the hotel where the prom was taking place. She had a salad and then ordered ice cream just as Peorth suggested. When she offered to share, he took her up on it, and it was so...

Okay, seriously, she had to stop this. She was starting to sound like Oneesama and the dance wasn't even over yet.

Skuld offered him a smile as they waltzed slowly in the middle of the dance floor.

"I'm having a really good time," she told him.

"Really?" he asked. For a moment, Skuld almost pitied him. While she had had a week of training from a love goddess, Sentaro had had nothing but an older brother who offered to give him a condom. "I'm glad!" he said.

Standing near the wall, dressed in a simple business skirt, blouse and a pair of naughty librarian glasses, Peorth smiled at the duo. Skuld was doing simply wonderful.

"Well," she said. "My job is done." She frowned. "I suppose I really should do the job Freya actually sent me down here to do." Then again, she thought, if things went well for Belldandy tonight, they probably wouldn't be out of the bedroom for several days.

She smiled. Two out of three. If she could get Urd and Nyd together, that would make a full set of Norns she could mark on her belt.

Then again... what were the odds of that?

888

"Um... Urd? Isn't this a little... Um... fast?" Nyd asked quickly as his back hit the wall of his bedroom.

Her hand on his chest, Urd smiled predatorily at him. She couldn't help it. He was just so cute. She had a theory she wanted to test... strictly in her capacity as a love goddess, of course. It was her hypothesis that she grew more attracted to Nyd the more confidence he showed. This was evident in the way he had whisked her off the dance floor last night when he received the call from Heaven and the fiery look in his eyes when he talked about protecting his healers.

To that end, Urd had taken him to the museum, a date Keiichi would be proud of. Of course, she made sure this museum had a section on the history of medicine, and as they walked through it, she asked him about this item or that piece of history, which he explained to her, growing more confident and animated as he went, telling her stories about dealing with Vector Daemons in the Congo or how one of his best healers had discovered a way to beat back smallpox.

So, as it turned out, her hypothesis was correct. True, the stories were a little boring, but the transformation he underwent as he told them was stunning. Instead of the meek, nervous young healer standing before her, he was tall, self-assured... noble...

Claiming fatigue, she asked him to take her home...

"Um... I mean... we're... we're..."

"Engaged," she purred. "So where's the harm?"

He swallowed nervously. "Um... well," he squeaked. "I..."

"After all," she continued breathlessly. "If we're going to spend more time together, we should at least find out if we're... compatible..."

"Compatible?" he squeaked.

Urd blinked as a remarkable possibility surfaced in her mind. Surely it wasn't possible...

"Nyd," she began, caressing his face as he gave her a look like a spooked rabbit. "Has no goddess ever offered herself to you before?"

He swallowed again and turned beat red. "If... If you mean... Have I... Or that I'm a... uh..."

_Hild's left tit, he is!_ she thought.

The goddess smiled broadly. She was going to be his first?! Sauce for the goose...

"It's okay," she whispered gently. "I'll take care of you."

"Take care of me?" he stammered.

"Mm hmm," she said, reaching up and taking his glasses off. "One way or the other, Nyd, you're never going to forget me..."

"I don't think that's possible," he agreed nervously as she leaned in for a kiss.

888

She didn't think it was possible. Dismissing the idea, Peorth made her way to the exit, smiling more than she had in a month. Happily-ever-afters were still possible, and she still had the ability to help them along.

As she stepped onto the sidewalk, she decided a walk home would do her good and started south in the general direction of temple. As she came to the corner, she hit the button for the Walk sign and looked up across the street.

He stood there.

She froze. He had to be a dream. He looked just like he did in her dream.

Wynn stared at her and mouthed a word to her just as a bus drove by, passing between them. When the road was clear again, he was gone.

"Belldandy!" she gasped. Turning, she ran back toward the hotel.

888

Skuld looked up as some kind of commotion erupted near the entrance.

"What's that?" Sentaro asked, turning to get a better look. There was a lot of shouting and angry cries. Someone fell to the floor.

Suddenly, Peorth ran past them, heading straight for the picture kiosk the school had set up so prom-goers could get their pictures with their dates.

"Peorth!?" Skuld cried.

Pushing a young couple out of the way, Peorth leapt right at the camera, and in a flash of light, disappeared.

"Who was..." Sentaro asked. But before he could finish, someone pushed him aside and took Skuld by the shoulders.

"Where did she go?!" Gaeriel asked.

"I don't know!" Skuld replied.

The valkyrie bit her lip in frustration. She was positive she wasn't made. Something was going on. She rushed toward the DJ's speakers and disappeared through them.

888

Clutching the card that came with the flowers in her hand, Belldandy climbed the stairs to the Nekomi Tech central quad. At this time of night, no one was there. It was huge, and yet at the same time, very private. The stars were shining above her. Keiichi must have spent a long time thinking this up.

She came to the grassy courtyard in the center of the quad. Lecture halls surrounded the entire quad, a park almost an acre in size. In the center, near the fountain, a small table lit by candles stood with a short figure in a tuxedo seated with his back to her.

The goddess smiled. "Keiichi," she whispered. She rushed forward. Coming to the table, she turned to face the figure, smiling brightly. "Keiichi! I..." Her face fell.

It was a mannequin. She blinked. Was this some kind of joke?

She didn't sense the goddess flying toward her until it was too late. In one smooth move, Carestia landed behind her, grabbed Belldandy by the hair and whirled around, throwing her thirty feet through the air!

Belldandy landed hard and rolled, and it seemed before she even got to a stop, the goddess was on her again, picking her up by the front of her dress and spinning around again, this time throwing her into the concrete fountain nearby, bouncing off the concrete statue and landing nearby.

888

From the third story window on the other side of the park, Metheus looked down at the scene through a pair of power binocs while Krieg viewed the fight through the scope of a large, bolt-action rifle.

Lying tied up on a couch behind them, sound asleep, Keiichi snored through the whole ordeal.

"I have a shot," Krieg rumbled. "Say when."

"Tag her," Metheus ordered.

Krieg lined up the crosshairs on the Norn and squeezed the trigger.

888

Belldandy coughed and winced through the pain of the brutal attack. As she rose to her feet to face this unknown foe, she cried out as something stung her right hand. Looking down at it, she saw a red gem embedded in the back of her hand, pulsing with a dull light.

She looked up and saw her opponent walking casually toward her.

"Well now, lover, you have two choices," Carestia told her with a grin. "Option A is you come along quietly with me, and no one needs to be hurt... not you... not your little mortal boytoy..."

"What have you done with Keiichi!?" she demanded, the entire episode taking a much angrier turn. "Have you harmed him?!"

Carestia's grin touched her ears. "He's up there," she said, nodding to the window where Metheus and Krieg were watching. "He's sleeping. Poor boy had such a rough day..."

"Keiichi!" she gasped, looking up at the window.

"Option B is essentially the opposite of Option A," Carestia told her. "A lot of crying... Not much fun... Except for me," she added. "They'll let me be the one who skins your boyfriend alive!" she laughed.

Belldandy leapt into the air and started flying toward the window. She didn't make it more than forty feet when she suddenly jerked to a stop and fell to the ground again. Looking up, she saw that her hand wouldn't go any further. She tried pulling, but the gem in her hand seemed to be anchoring her to something.

"Going somewhere?" Carestia asked, holding up her hand and showing off a ruby ring that pulsed in time with the gem on Belldandy's hand.

The Norn climbed to her feet and faced her. "Why have you done this?!" she asked. "As a first class goddess I demand..."

Carestia waved the idea aside. "You are in a position to demand nothing..." She smiled. "Whereas I am in a position to grant... nothing..."

Belldandy threw her hands in front of her and began chanting in the Heavenly program language. If she could seal this demon, she might...

Before even half the spell was spoken, Carestia was on her again, flying past her and delivering a sharp elbow to the back of her head. Belldandy fell, rolling onto her back just Carestia dropped onto her, straddling her and pinning her arms over her head.

"Oh, don't be like that," Carestia purred as an angel emerged over her. Carestia's higher self, Deviant Shiloh, appeared as a 17th Century noblewoman dressed in black and red. A fan covered her mouth as she regarded Belldandy with hungry eyes. "We have all night to get acquainted." The former valkyrie leaned down, her mouth close to the Norn's ear. "Give it twenty minutes and you'll be calling me, 'Mommy...'"

888

Peorth emerged in Nekomi Tech's AV classroom. She looked around the darkened room and kicked herself. She didn't know the school well enough to search it on her own, not in time anyway. Finding a phone on the instructor's desk, she ran to it and dialed the number for the temple.

"Come on," she whispered as it rang. "Come on..."

"Hello!" Frigga's voice finally came through.

"Ms. Frigga, it's Peorth!" the love goddess cried. "I'm at the school! Listen, I think Belldandy's about to be attacked! Get Urd and Gaeriel and get here as fast as you can!"

"Belldandy?! But..."

"Just hurry!" Peorth cried, hanging up.

888

Belldandy summoned all the strength she had left into her heart. "_I reject thee!_" she cried. There was a flash of light, and Carestia was thrown through the air, her back striking the fountain and falling to the floor.

Weakened, the Norn pushed herself to her feet as an enraged Carestia rose up nearby. She needed time to collect her strength or she was finished.

"You little bitch," Carestia hissed. "I'm going to have to teach you some manners..."

Deviant Shiloh suddenly landed in front of her and grabbed her by the hair, yanking back and exposing Belldandy's neck. Moving the fan aside, the angel revealed a mouth of sharp fangs, dripping blood. It hissed at the Norn angrily.

"Angel, co..." she started, but stopped. If she exposed Holy Bell to this thing, she could end up like the others. She fought back the urge to call her higher self even as the angel within her begged to be let out, to be allowed to help.

Carestia stalked forward and reached out, taking Belldandy by the jaw.

"That was a mistake," she hissed at her. She squeezed cruelly. "And I will see that you pay for it!" Belldandy cried out as Deviant Shiloh yanked her hair again. "Maybe I'll start by plucking out young Morisato's eyes!"

Belldandy whimpered, thoughts of resistance rapidly fleeing as they were replaced by conjured images of Keiichi being made to pay for it.

"Stop!"

Carestia looked up and saw a goddess she hadn't seen before standing nearby, her hands up and glowing in preparation for an attack spell.

With one deft motion, Carestia turned Belldandy to her and placed a soul blade at her throat. "Not one more step!" she hissed.

Peorth stood her ground. "You kill her, and another demon dies," she reminded her.

Carestia smiled. "True, but it won't be me."

"Peorth," Belldandy gasped out.

A light of recognition went on behind Carestia's eyes. "So _you're_ Peorth! I've heard a lot about you..."

The love goddess grit her teeth. "Where is he?" she demanded. "I want to speak to him. Now!"

Carestia giggled girlishly. She brought the hand holding the blade closer to her lips. "My Lord... You have a caller."

Peorth felt her heart plunge into her stomach as the smoke from one of the candles on the table began to solidify and take the shape of a tall man in black. His eyepatch was gone, replaced by a blue crystal eye, and the scars on the right side of his face appeared to have multiplied.

He stepped toward her, placing himself between Peorth and Carestia.

Peorth swallowed and started to shake. "Let them go," she gasped out.

He shook his head. "No. I need them."

The love goddess shook her head. "Don't make me..." She couldn't finish the sentence.

"Are you going to kill me, Peorth?" he asked sadly.

_Will you kiss me? Or will you blow my brains out?_ The words of her dream came back to her.

Tears ran down her face. "Don't do this," she begged. "Don't. Please..."

Instead of answering, he turned to Carestia. "We got what we came for. Return to base."

The demoness reached up and tapped her right earring twice. A bright light erupted from under the table as a portable hardline beacon opened, establishing a gateway to the demonic realm.

888

When she got the call on her cell phone, Gaeriel was already near the school. Swooping down toward the quad, she saw the hardline beacon open. As she got closer, she saw Peorth and the rampant speaking.

_I knew it..._

She dived downward.

888

Peorth hissed. "I said stop!"

Metheus stepped toward her. Slowly, he reached up and took her wrist in his hand. The goddess's resolve evaporated, and her arms went limp.

"Please don't do this," she begged quietly.

Leaning forward, he brought his lips to hers and kissed her gently. "I must," he whispered.

Suddenly, his eyes went wide, and he leapt backward. "CONTACT HIGH!" he cried.

Gaeriel landed between him and Peorth, her saber unsheathed and a look of complete fury on her face. "You caught me by surprise last time, rampant," she growled. "Game for a rematch?"

Metheus didn't even have time to draw his weapon before something massive landed on the valkyrie with a tremendous crash. Reaching down, Krieg grabbed her by the back of the neck and flung her across the park and through one of the walls into a lecture hall.

Peorth fell backwards as the god she saw in Honolulu towered over her, an unconscious Keiichi hanging over his shoulder.

Metheus arched an eyebrow at him.

"She was unworthy of my blade," he explained.

"We're exfiltrating," Metheus announced. Krieg bowed and followed Carestia through the hardline.

Metheus turned to follow.

"Wait!" Peorth cried, jumping to her feet and grabbing his arm. "Wait!" she sobbed. "Take me instead! Do you hear me?! Take me! My life for hers! YOU CAN HAVE MY LIFE FOR HERS!"

Metheus looked down at her sadly. "Petite Fleur," he said quietly. "I _am_ trading her life for yours." He held his palm before her eyes, and Peorth felt herself falling into the darkness of a sleep spell.

As the goddess fell to the ground, Metheus considered just taking her, but that's not how things worked. He had to break Belldandy first. Then, and only then, would Hild consent to allowing him to take Peorth. If he took her now, there was no telling what Hild might say or do...

With a last look at her, he stepped into the light.

888

"Metheus! The hero of the hour!" Hild cried, stepping down from her onyx throne, a glass of Bollinger in her hand. Descending the stairs, she offered her hand to him, which he took and kissed. She replied by kissing him on either cheek.

"Word of this act is already spreading throughout Creation!" she said excitedly. "With... of course... just a smidgen of spin from certain 'eyewitnesses' and such." She held her arms out as if reading a news marquee. "DATELINE: EARTH! ALMIGHTY'S DAUGHTER SNATCHED BY UNKNOWN FOE UNDER NOSES OF VALKYRIES!" She laughed and collapsed into her throne. "Glorious! Simply glorious!"

Metheus didn't smile. "The job isn't over. She still has to be broken."

She held her glass up in a toast to him. "I have every faith in your abilities, Inquisitor!"

"We were seen," he told her. "You understand this compromises us."

"Compromises us?!" she cried. "Are you kidding?! The market is up for us _fifty-two points!_ Thanks to their unwillingness to protect the healers and this fiasco, public confidence in the Valkyries' abilities has plummeted! You don't have to work in the shadows any longer, Inquisitor, because the very thought of gods working for Hell will be enough to make every Joe-Average-God in Heaven piss his pants!" She giggled, and covered her mouth.

"And the best part is, Inquisitor, that in response to this Heaven will do absolutely, positively _nothing!_" she went on. "I've put our Hellriders on alert, and I let the Grigori see me do it. Heaven still won't give up their safety blanket! Not even for the Almighty's daughter."

She sighed. "_My_ daughter," she corrected, her eyes closed in bliss. She opened her eyes and faced him. "How long?" she asked eagerly. "How long until she's mine?"

"It depends on certain other players," he told her.

She smiled and raised a finger to his forehead. "Then accept this gift." Her finger glowed. "I took it the last time I rooted around in young Morisato's mind. You'll find it useful, perhaps."

Metheus took a breath as the memories flooded into him. "Yes... I think this will do nicely."

She hopped up and down like young girl who was just told she would be getting a pony for her birthday. "And once she's mine, as promised, Inquisitor, I will have Peorth dragged here to you, gift-wrapped if you like..."

"I prefer to deal with that myself," he told her.

"However you like!" she relented happily. "Now," she said, sipping at her champagne again. "I believe you have something to do."

888

Keiichi sat shivering in the holding cell, rubbing his arms for warmth. He woke up as they were dragging him here but didn't really understand how much trouble he was in until they tossed him inside.

It was a bare steel room, perhaps ten feet by ten feet. Not a stick of furniture anywhere.

The last thing he remembered was having lunch with the JSP rep. Then he felt woozy... then... here... But he recognized the markings on the faces of the guards who brought him here. They were demons.

Which meant he was in Hell.

Which meant he was boned...

He looked up suddenly as the door opened and a familiar figure stepped inside. The door closed behind Wynn, who regarded him sadly.

"Hi, Keiichi," he said simply.

"Zup?" the college student replied, determined to at least show a little backbone. "Heard you were dead."

Wynn scratched at his new scars. "Almost."

"What's going on, Wynn?" he asked quietly. "What's this all about?"

The demon approached and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his robe. He offered one to the boy, who looked at them suspiciously.

"It's okay," Wynn told him. "Right now there are negotiations going on, the usual bureaucratic nonsense that precedes these kinds of things. Until they're settled or not, we don't need to know one another in a professional manner. We're just Metheus and Keiichi."

The boy considered his words.

"Trust me, Keiichi," he said sadly. "You're going to need it."

Keiichi took a breath and took one of the smokes from the pack. Metheus reached down and snapped his fingers, conjuring a flame and lighting it for him.

"What kind of negotiations?" Keiichi asked after taking a drag.

"The usual bottom line," Metheus told him. "Hild wants something. If she gets it, we're all friends. If not... you and I get to know each other on a professional level."

"I see," Keiichi said. "I don't know anything useful, you know."

"You never know," Metheus told him. "Answer honestly, things will go well. Try to hide something, lie to me, outsmart me, and there will be consequences. Understand?"

Keiichi lightly banged the back of his head against the wall in frustration.

Metheus turned away as a jeweled earpiece he was wearing started to flicker with light.

"Understood," he said. He turned back to Keiichi. "Negotiations have failed. Are you ready?"

Keiichi stood up and took a deep breath, his heart was thudding in his chest. He tried to banish his fear and thought of Belldandy, hoping that thoughts of her would give him some kind of strength. Is that why they grabbed him? To get at Belldandy? Wynn had hinted that Hild wanted to do as much when he lived at the temple. God forbid, was she here too, sitting in a cold cell thinking of him? Whatever they wanted to know, it was something that would harm her. He couldn't give it to them. No matter what, he had to resist.

He shakily nodded. "Okay," he said. "Okay, I'm ready."

Metheus nodded and gently took the cigarette from Keiichi's lips. Turning it around, he quickly pressed the burnt end into the boy's forehead.


	11. The Price of Love

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

Foreword: This is more of a mini-chapter, one that didn't quite fit with the last one and I didn't think should be smashed in with the next.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 11**_

_**The Price of Love**_

* * *

**"It asked, and I answered. For a moment's safety, I loosed damnation on the stars."**

_Cortana_

_Halo 3_

* * *

He didn't know how long he had been lying there, hurting on the freezing steel floor. They took his watch before putting him in the cell, probably so he couldn't mark time. He knew it _felt_ like a long time.

Every part of him ached, and for the life of him, he still couldn't figure out why.

Well... obviously being beaten by two soldiers of the underworld... but he meant more in the big picture sense.

If they wanted information, they could take it, right? Hild had taken the reason for Nyd's presence straight out of his head with just a glance, right?

_So why the hell do they need a blowtorch?_ he asked himself, wincing as the burns on his hand and arm ached again.

He swallowed dryly and pushed himself up with his good hand just as the door opened and Metheus entered. The rampant god, a man at one point Keiichi might have been willing to call his friend, looked down at him and checked his injuries.

"You'll live," he proclaimed. "Which is good as Her Majesty has expressly forbidden you to die."

Keiichi kicked out with his feet, trying to get enough traction to push himself to the wall. "My lucky day, I guess," he rasped out.

"Perhaps," Metheus agreed. "Would you like some water?"

The college student looked up at him suspiciously.

"Dehydration can be a killer for mortals," Metheus explained as he offered the young man a canteen. "Can't have that, can we?"

"You poisoned it or something," he croaked out.

"Keiichi, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead," Metheus told him. "Make no mistake, I'm not going to kill you. As a matter of fact, I won't even let you kill yourself. You're here for the duration."

"To question me?" Keiichi asked. "About what? Belldandy?"

"Ah, yes, Belldandy," Metheus whispered. "A lovely young flower of goddesshood. It must be nice, being a mortal who gets to fuck that, eh?"

Keiichi took the canteen with his good hand and glared. "She's better than you. Better than me."

"No doubt," Metheus agreed, watching Keiichi drink. "Not so fast... go easy..."

The college student drank and let the empty canteen fall away. "So what's next?" he asked. "Bamboo shoots under my fingernails? Some of that stuff they do at Guantanamo Bay?"

Metheus smiled. "Oh, make no mistake, that little daycare in Cuba has nothing on what I do here." He stepped to the corner and turned to him. "This is my bread and butter. Breaking people down to their basic components and then rebuilding them into a form that assists us. Turning enemies into sources of information and helping traitors find their faith again. With enough time and effort, I can get you to confess to being a golden retriever and believe every word of it."

Keiichi closed his eyes painfully. "I'm allergic to dogs..."

"Pity," Metheus told him. "Shall we continue?"

"Don't suppose there's a continental breakfast," Keiichi wondered.

"You can eat once we have what we want," Metheus assured him.

Keiichi's mind raced, wondering what that might be. It had to be something about Belldandy, but what? They've been attacking angels, maybe it had something to do with Holy Bell? That was even worse... or better, depending on how you looked at it. He knew much less about his lover's angel, nothing that could possibly do them any good.

"I don't know anything," he confessed.

"Perhaps. Indulge me," Metheus said.

Wincing, Keiichi pushed himself to his feet. "Okay," he breathed. "Let's go."

888

"Keiichi! I made your favorite!" Belldandy announced as she sat next to him at the dinner table.

"My favorite?" he asked, blinking.

"Hai! Megumi told me you loved it as a kid, so I found the recipe in one of my cookbooks and gave it a try!" The goddess reached into the pot of Seafood Nagasaki with a pair of chopsticks and pulled out a big piece of shrimp. She smiled and held it toward him. "Ah," she commanded.

Smiling, the college student opened his mouth and let his goddess feed him the morsel. As he closed his mouth, he felt an intense pain in his chest and air knocked out of him.

He opened his eyes and coughed, retching as he tried to get his breath back. Standing over him, the man who had kicked him in the chest stared down at him.

"I'm sorry, Keiichi," Metheus began. "I must be boring you if I'm putting you to sleep."

Jarred out of his near coma of exhaustion, the young man continued coughing as he rolled onto his back on the floor.

"I know we keep going over this, but I'll remind you again," Metheus said as he circled the boy. "You don't get to rest. You don't get to eat. You don't get to go to the fucking bathroom. You don't get to pray. You don't get to see outside. You don't get any fucking ice cream. And you don't get to dream."

He knelt down and locked his wrist around Keiichi's burnt arm, causing the boy to squeal in pain. "Understand?"

Metheus released him, and the college student fell to the floor, clutching his arm in pain.

"Did you at least have a nice dream?" Metheus asked him. "While it lasted, I mean?"

Keiichi's chest rose and fell quickly. "Yeah," he admitted.

"Did you dream of your Belldandy?" he asked.

"Yeah," he admitted again.

"Was she standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean?" he asked with a smile. "In a white sun dress and a big floppy hat, smiling at you? Did she look into your eyes and tell you she loved you? Did she kiss you and promise to be always by your side?"

His breathing had slowed, and his senses started to return to him. "No, but I'll keep it in mind for next time," he said.

Metheus chuckled. "Funny thing dreams," he told him. "They can be a refuge or a prison."

"What kind of dreams do you have?" Keiichi asked.

The rampant turned a quizzical eye to him. "Are you really interested or just buying time before I peel some of the skin off your back?"

"Hey, whatever, right?" Keiichi replied weakly.

Metheus smiled. "I dream of Peorth," he told him. "Standing in the center of Charity Square back in Heaven, waving at me across the park. Something always keeps me from going to her, though. I never seem to reach her."

"Wow, that's awful," Keiichi said, unmoved.

The inquisitor smiled at the sarcasm. "You're holding up very well for a mortal," he allowed. "Much better than most. Tell me, Keiichi, where does this wellspring of strength and endurance come from?"

The boy turned his head toward him. "You trying living with Urd and Skuld for two years," he rasped. "Compared to them, you're just a pussy."

The rampant laughed. "Very good! You have some fight left in you. That's good. I hate it when people start to beg early in. It's just so... sad... to see men, gods, who were once so mighty brought so low so quickly."

"Don't suppose begging would work?" Keiichi asked.

"No, not really," Metheus confessed.

He eyed the young man for several minutes. "It comes from _her_, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Who?"

"Belldandy," he replied. "You're protecting her, aren't you? You don't want to break, because you think if you do, it will lower you in her eyes."

Keiichi looked at him. "Belldandy doesn't need my protection," he said.

"Then why fight?" Metheus asked.

"I guess I'm a masochist," Keiichi replied. "After all, you try living with..."

"... Urd and Skuld, yes I know," Metheus cut him off. "What could you possibly know that could endanger Belldandy?"

"That's my question," Keiichi told him weakly.

"And it's a very good one. One worth exploring." He reached into his pocket and drew a small razor blade. "Now then... Shall we?"

888

He must have only had a few minutes of sleep before he felt arms grab him and pick him up. He heard boots as someone walked across the floor, more than one person. Looking up, he saw Metheus, examining him again.

"You'll live," he proclaimed. He nodded to one of the guards, and they pulled him out of the way as two others entered carrying a large tub of water between them. Large chunks of ice floated in it. It actually _looked_ cold.

"Fear, Keiichi, is a natural thing," Metheus began as a second demon took Keiichi's other arm and started moving him toward the tub of water. "It can be a great asset or a huge pitfall. It all comes down to how it's applied."

The demons forced him down to his knees on the other side of the tub, each with a firm grip on his arms. His burnt arm had long since gone numb. He could barely feel it now.

"Tell me, Keiichi," Metheus said quietly. "Tell me about Keiko Matsuhara."

The boy felt a shiver run up his back, and he swallowed fearfully as he realized what Metheus was going to do. He didn't know how the rampant knew, but he did. Not even Belldandy really knew. During Epiphany, she might have discovered it, but she never mentioned it.

"Hmm?" Metheus asked. "Did you say something?"

Keiichi swallowed nervously as he stared down at the water.

"You were what? Six?" Metheus asked.

"Seven," Keiichi breathed.

"Seven years old," Metheus said, walking around them. "Playing in the snow with your sister when suddenly you hear someone cry out..."

Keiichi continued to stare at the water. He hated it. Always had. Especially after that day. Belldandy didn't understand. Didn't really ask. She thought it was some kind of irrational phobia, but he knew better... He hated it. He hated it and he feared it...

"And little Keiko had fallen through the ice in the pond near your house," Metheus narrated. "Tell me what happened then."

"You seem to know," Keiichi managed to get out.

"But remembering something and explaining it are two different things, Keiichi," Metheus told him. "Explain your fear to me."

He didn't say anything.

"Very well," Metheus said sadly. "Perhaps a little reminder..."

The demons suddenly pushed his head under the freezing water. The boy thrashed in their arms with desperate strength as the ice cold temperatures attacked his skin. A moment later, it felt like years, he was pulled up again, gasping, shivering...

"What happened then?" Metheus asked him.

He spat out water and gobbled lungfuls of breath. "We ran to the pond!" he gasped out. "And I laid down on the ice and crawled out to her!"

"Quite heroic of you," Metheus agreed. "Then what?"

He shivered violently. "Then the ice under me broke and... I..."

"Fell into the water?" Metheus asked. "Like this?"

They pushed him into the water again, and again he fought like a trapped animal, expelling most of the air in his lungs in a desperate attempt to get loose. They pulled him up, and he cried out, sobbing.

"Then what?" Metheus demanded.

His breathing came in gasps now. "I...I...I..." He was shivering so hard, he could barely form words. "I... tried to sw...sw...swim to the top...but... I...I... I hit the ice...and I c...c...c...couldn't..."

"You were trapped in the water," Metheus concluded.

"Yes...yes..."

"Couldn't breathe?"

Keiichi sobbed.

"Trapped..." Metheus whispered. He nodded at the guards. Keiichi was once again in the water, this time screaming as the water filled his mouth and lungs.

They pulled him out again, and Keiichi was sobbing hysterically.

"And then what?" Metheus asked.

"M...M...Megumi... She..." He stopped and swallowed. "S..shs..shsssh..she pulled me out," he stammered.

"And Keiko?" Metheus asked.

He sobbed like a baby, his head falling forward.

"Megumi saved you... but not Keiko?"

"S...sh...she... I..."

"She could only save one of you, and she chose you," Metheus said sympathetically. "You think it should have been the other way around?"

Keiichi said nothing.

"And that's your great shame, isn't it?" Metheus asked. "She saved you, and you can't bring yourself to fault her for it. You're glad she chose you over the neighbor girl."

Again, the college student said nothing, just closed his eyes.

"You're so close to breaking, Keiichi," Metheus told him, wiping his face with a towel. "Why do you keep fighting?"

Keiichi finally looked up and found the last shred of strength he had left. "A good man once told me something," he breathed. "He said that most men were willing to die for the love of a good and chaste woman."

Metheus stared down at him, his own words thrown back in his face.

Keiichi took a breath and continued. "I wonder whatever happened to him."

The rampant grit his teeth angrily. "Down," he hissed.

The demons shoved Keiichi under again. Metheus paced back and forth in front of the tub, glaring down at the boy as second after second passed by.

Fatigued, the boy's struggling started to wane.

"My Lord?" one of the demons questioned.

Metheus didn't reply, just continued to glare.

Keiichi stopped moving.

"My Lord, he'll die," the demon reminded him.

"Up," Metheus growled.

They pulled the mortal boy out of the water and dropped him onto the floor. Keiichi threw up a lungful of water and coughed spastically, unable to control himself.

"How dare you?" Metheus hissed. "How dare a _mortal_ lecture _me_! Your people live in a realm we nursed into a form that could support life, fought wars to prevent it from becoming just another jewel in Hild's crown, endured centuries of suffering while your people sat fat and happy, concerned only with your own lives! Your own happiness! We lived a life of service, while you lived a life of gluttony! You mortals have no idea what love is! No idea the kind of strength of will it takes to nurture that love for a millenia or the amount of pain it takes to sever that connection to help spoiled whelps such as yourself! When?! When, Keiichi Morisato, have you _ever_ had to sacrifice?! When have you ever had to say goodbye to half your soul?!"

Metheus turned away as Keiichi finally started to collect himself.

"Wynn," he croaked. "Before I go back in the pool, can I ask you something?"

"Please do," Metheus told him with a wave.

Keiichi coughed again. The other demons watched him warily. "Well," he gasped out. "We've been doing this for awhile... And I was wondering when you were going to start asking me questions." He paused. "Because if you're just trying to soften me up... well... I have to admit... I'm kind of soft now..."

Metheus smiled and turned to him. He sighed and shook his head. "Keiichi... you proceed from a false assumption."

Keiichi blinked. "Huh?"

The rampant looked down at him and gave him an almost sad smile. "You see... I'm not torturing _you_..."

888

"_PLEASE! PLEASE STOP IT!"_ Belldandy cried, falling to her knees behind the crystal wall that held her and her powers in check. On the other side of that wall, standing between her and the transparent wall that allowed them to view Keiichi's cell, was Tabitha.

"It can all stop right now," Tabitha told her.

"Please," Belldandy sobbed, down on her hands and knees as tears and snot dripped from her face. "Please," she gasped out again. "Don't hurt him anymore. Please..."

She hadn't wanted it to go this far, but what they wanted... There was no way she could agree to it. The goddess thought perhaps if they could hold out for a little while, The Almighty or her mother would negotiate a release, or a team of valkyries would save them or she would find some way of escape.

But after twenty-six straight hours of watching them cruelly hurt Keiichi, she couldn't bear it a moment longer. Especially after seeing Metheus nearly kill him in the tub of ice water. She couldn't bear seeing Keiichi breaking like that, forced to endure not only his worst fear but his darkest sense of guilt.

And the whole time Tabitha had stood on the other side of the wall, narrating it for her, pointing out the purpose behind every move Metheus made, the underlining psychological impact on her beloved Keiichi, twisting the knife in her soul.

After a few hours, Belldandy started to see Keiichi's pain as from her own hand. A few hours after that, she would have ended her own life, hoping that denying them their prize, they'd let him go. But they had dampened her powers. She could only watch...

Watch them torture her Keiichi to near death until she said what they wanted to hear.

"Don't hurt him anymore," she begged. "Please, I beg you. Please... I'll do whatever you want," she whimpered.

Tabitha smiled and hugged her teddy bear. "You'll agree to Her Majesty's terms?"

Belldandy swallowed back tears. She didn't think they could bring her to this point, but they had. She never thought it was possible, but it was.

"Yes," she breathed.

It wasn't enough for the interrogator. She needed to hear it. "You will acknowledge Hild as the one true God and Savior of Creation?"

Belldandy shut her eyes. "Yes," she answered quietly.

"You will take her into your heart and allow her to save your eternal soul?" Tabitha asked.

"Yes."

"You will swear yourself to her household and acknowledge her as the head of that household?" the little girl asked.

Belldandy cried, she couldn't believe this. She couldn't believe she could possibly do this...

"Yes," she sobbed.

"You will love her as a daughter loves her mother and allow her to love you as a mother loves her daughter?" Tabitha continued.

Belldandy felt bile rise in her throat, but managed to nod.

"Tell me!" Tabitha snarled.

"Yes," Belldandy replied. "Just please... Please make him stop... Please... please..." She trailed off as sobs racked her body, forcing her chest to heave.

She nearly jumped as a pair of hands reached out to her from her left and caring arms embraced her, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"Shhhhhh," Hild cooed to her as Belldandy sobbed. The arch demoness patted her lovingly on the back. "Shhhh, it's okay. Of course we'll stop." She looked up and gave a nod to Tabitha, who raised her bracelet to her lips and spoke into it. "It's all right, my darling," Hild whispered. "It's all going to be okay now. See?"

On the wall behind Tabitha, Metheus and the other two demons were walking out of the room, leaving Keiichi alone.

Belldandy cried as Hild hugged her. "Thank you," she sobbed. "Thank you..."

Hild smiled. "Oh, my little Belldandy..."

888

Hild sighed in delight as she exited the holding cell. Her ladies-in-waiting were getting her new daughter cleaned up. Afterward, they would take her to her new room where she and Hild would have a heart-to-heart about just what Belldandy's newfound oaths really meant.

All in all, a wonderful day.

She turned as Metheus, a stern look on his face, approached her. "Your Majesty," he greeted with a bow. "What shall we do with Morisato?"

"The bargain was to release him," Hild told him. "We'll release him. I'm sure Frigga and that little, buggish healer will have him patched up and ready to start the first day of the rest of his life in no time!"

Metheus paused. "Something else?" Hild asked.

He held up an infopad. "When they were brought in, we had one of our Vectors remove the tagging gem in her hand," he said quietly. "They also gave her a quick scan to check for tracking programs, self-destruct protocols, the usual." He bit his lip as if he wasn't sure he really wanted to tell Hild what he knew, but relented. "He found something... interesting."

Hild snatched the pad from him and read over it. A smile broke out on her face, and she leaned against the wall, holding the pad to her chest as she closed her eyes in ecstacy.

"Glorious," she whispered. "Absolutely glorious."

"Congratulations," Metheus whispered with a hint of bitterness. He turned to walk away. "On your coming grandchild."


	12. Something for the Pain

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

Foreword: Another update. I got a lot of reaction out of the last chapter, but despite concerns from some that I'd be "flamed" for it, everyone has been quite polite and constructive. Another reason why I simply love the AMG fanbase. Thanks guys.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 12**_

_**Something for the Pain**_

* * *

**"The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."**

_Carl Gustav Jung_

* * *

"That's it, very good," Urd breathed, barely audible as their lips parted. She stroked the god's hair and smiled. "You can't tell me you haven't kissed a girl before..."

"I.. I haven't," Nyd whispered.

True to her word, Urd was taking this slow. She didn't want to put the poor dear in a coma, after all. So they were starting with the basics, kissing.

"Now," she continued, leaning in. "Just like before, only put a little more into it..." She brushed her lips against his...

There was a pounding of frantic footsteps outside the door, and suddenly Frigga burst into the bedroom.

To Nyd's complete surprise, he suddenly found Urd sitting across the room with a copy of the business section of the newspaper in her hands.

"Oh, Frigga!" she said casually. "Nyd and I were just discussing the economic situation here in the Earth realm." She turned to the confused young healer. "Nyd, do you really think the dollar is going to catch up to the Euro when..."

Frigga wasn't buying it just now. "Urd, I've no time for thy transparent lies! Particularly when young Nyd's lips are covered in your shade of lipstick!"

Nyd's hand went to his mouth in complete panic, a sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"Your sister is in trouble!" Frigga continued.

Urd dropped the paper. "Where?!"

"Peorth just called! She said Belldandy is about to be attacked at the school! Hurry!"

888

It looked like someone had fought a war there. That was Urd's thought as they landed nimbly in the center of the quad.

"Peorth!" Urd cried, rushing to the unconscious goddess lying nearby. She looked up at the healer as she cradled the love goddess's head in her lap. "Nyd!"

Nyd checked her over. "She's in a sleep spell," he told her. "Powerful one." He looked up and examined the surrounding area. "You see anyone else?"

"Over here!"

They saw Frigga emerge from the rubble near one of the lecture halls, another figure supported on her arm.

"Gaeriel's hurt!" she called out.

Nyd met them half way, but the valkyrie pushed him aside, making a beeline for the unconscious goddess nearby.

"You're hurt," Nyd told her.

Clutching her arm, Gaeriel continued on. "Peorth," she growled.

"She's under a sleep spell, but I think she'll be all..."

The valkyrie knelt next to Peorth and pulled her up by the front of her shirt. "Wake up, bitch, _I'm going to kill you!_" She raised her good hand, but Urd snagged her wrist.

"Back off," Urd hissed. "Right now."

Glaring at Urd, Gaeriel shoved Peorth back down to the ground.

"What happened here, Lieutenant?" Frigga asked, frantically searching the area with her eyes.

"The rampant," she growled, throwing an icy stare at Urd. "He and two others took Belldandy and Keiichi through a portable hardline."

"The rampant?" Frigga asked. "You mean Mr. Wynn?!"

Gaeriel looked sheepish. "We were keeping it quiet, trying to use Peorth to track him." She threw another glare toward Urd. "Which worked out great, by the way," she bit out. She painfully rose to her feet. "I got here just in time to watch her kiss her little rampant lover goodbye. Then the fucker from Hawaii sucker punched me and threw me into a building. All in all, it has _not_ been a nice day."

"Where?!" Frigga asked, grabbing her by the front of her jacket. "Where did they take them?! WHERE?!_"_

"I don't know," Gaeriel admitted.

Frigga let her go, stumbling backward until Nyd caught her. "My Belldandy," she breathed. She tried to control herself, but almost choked on her sobs.

Gaeriel, meanwhile, knelt next to Peorth again and removed a flash drive from her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Urd asked.

"I'm sealing her until Command can send instructions." She took Peorth's hand.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Urd told her.

Gaeriel threw her an acidic look. "I'm done listening to your good ideas," she hissed. "If I had followed my gut and sealed Peorth yesterday, this might not have happened. She set your sister up! And you want me to serve her tea and play patty-cake! No way! I'm not taking the risk this time!"

Peorth's head lolled to the side as she started to come around. Her eyes fluttered open just as the valkyrie slapped the flash drive against her hand. "Quoi?" In a flash of light, she was gone.

Gaeriel pocketed the seal. "I need to call Command," she said. "Now."

888

She watched them leave and gave it a good ten minutes before she wandered into the center of the quad. Taking a casual look around, she removed a Scroll of Time from her satchel and opened it, revealing a parchment made of clear plastic.

Miranda raised it before her eyes and looked through the parchment, using her thumb to dial back the time setting until she caught a glimpse of a goddess lying on the ground. She dialed it back a little more and pressed play.

Turning and holding the plastic in different directions, she could see the events that unfolded at a certain time on whatever spot the parchment was pointed at. She saw Belldandy ambushed and paused the parchment on her adversary.

"Elra," she whispered.

She saw Belldandy flinch and look at her hand, saw the tag flashing red and concluded there must be an overwatch team. Rewatching it a couple of times, she got a good direction and bounded up into the lecture hall. She found a room with an open window, saw the HM-404 sniper rifle still leaning against the sill.

The valkyrie opened the parchment again and dialed back the time until she saw them.

"Basken," she whispered as the large god filled the parchment. She turned and saw Metheus standing nearby with a pair of power binocs. "Wynn."

She lowered the parchment. At least now she knew which three she was dealing with. She sat on the window sill as she thought it over. Wynn had been a communications tech, but it appeared he had grown up since he entered Hell. He appeared to be running things. Elra had been their Seraphim pilot, but also a skilled bowman. Basken was going to be the hard one. The heavy weapons specialist had prided himself on his abilities and had even talked with her about joining the Combat Division as a regular troop.

Miranda bit her lip. And now Peorth was in custody. She knew the love goddess wasn't helping the rampants, but that wouldn't stop Lind from trying to use her. There had to be a way to help her.

In the meantime, she needed to clean up. She grabbed the rifle and the remaining tags, slinging the weapon over her shoulder. The other supplies they left that she couldn't carry she assembled into the center of the room. Pulling a Glasser from her vest, she primed the grenade and tossed it in the center of the pile. There was a flash of purple light that caused her to look away, and when she looked back, the supplies had been changed into a crystal sculpture of a pile of junk.

She unslung the rifle and smashed the butt against the glass, smashing it into a thousand shards. She wasn't sure why she did this. The Combat Division surely knew by now who was involved, but if there was a chance they didn't, she owed the three of them that.

Slinging the rifle again, she made her way out of the lecture hall.

888

Ten hours passed before Gaeriel was able to get through to Heaven with her news of Belldandy's capture. The response was immediate.

"Milady," Lind greeted with a bow to Frigga. "You have my sincerest condolences."

Flanked by two Double As, the commander of the Combat Division looked extremely out of place in the temple, but she knew she had to conduct this interrogation herself.

"What are you doing to get my daughter back?" Frigga asked, tears in her eyes.

Lind looked uncomfortable. "We're exploring all our options both military and diplomatic. We are assuming that Hild has her, but so far our attempts to contact her are being rebuffed." She placed a hand on the older goddess's shoulder. "I'm hoping that Peorth will be able to tells us more."

She walked past the queen into the bedroom where Peorth was being held. A thin wall of crystal surrounded Peorth's futon upon which the love goddess sat, her knees pulled to her chest.

"I need to ask you some questions," Lind told her. "I've read Gaeriel's report. It's not very flattering for you."

"She didn't see what happened," Peorth told her quietly.

"Then tell me."

Peorth looked up at the valkyrie. "I tried to save them," she said, tears in her eyes. She looked down in shame. "But I wasn't strong enough to do what I knew I should have."

"Do you know where they were going?"

Peorth shook her head.

"Gaeriel said it was the rampant, Wynn. Is this true?"

The love goddess nodded.

"Who were the other two?" Lind asked.

Peorth looked up at her. "The other surviving members of The Seven," she said.

"The Seven?" Lind whispered. "How do you know?"

"I just do."

"And how long have you been working with them?"

"I haven't!" Peorth cried, shooting to her feet.

"You knew about the strike in Honolulu," Lind accused.

"I had a dream..."

"And you retrieved that information from the Earth Help Center intranet."

"I did," Peorth admitted.

"Access to which you are not cleared for," Lind told her. She turned away for a moment. "Just before the attack, Yggdrasil was hacked and a malicious code was uploaded. That's why Lieutenant Gaeriel couldn't call for help for nearly eleven hours after the attack."

Peorth shook her head. "So?"

"You're a certified Yggdrasil systems operator, aren't you?" Lind asked.

The love goddess shut her eyes and put her hands to her temples. She could see where this was going. "I had nothing to do with it..."

"Then how were they able to crack the World Tree's security?"

Peorth looked up at her angrily. "Yggdrasil's network security has holes big enough to fly Great Ships through!" she bit out. "We've been warning them about it for years!"

"Holes you know about," Lind told her. "Holes you know how to exploit."

Peorth sighed. "Since you're determined to hear me say it, oui. I know about the holes in Yggdrasil's security. A lot of people do."

Lind regarded her for a moment. "Did you kiss him?"

"What?"

"Gaeriel said you were kissing him when she came upon you. Is it true?" Lind asked.

Peorth swallowed. In her moment of weakness, she had. She nodded.

"You understand our suspicion."

"Look," Peorth said. "I can see where this is going, but I'm telling you I'm no traitor."

"You knew Lance Corporal Wynn was involved," Lind told her.

"Oui," Peorth told her.

"And you told no one..."

"Non!" Peorth cried, grasping a straw that might save her. "I told one of your valkyries."

Lind arched an eyebrow. "Gaeriel?"

"Non," the love goddess said. "I've been working with someone else who thought secrecy was better. A colonel named Miranda..."

Lind went rigid. Without another word, she turned and left the room.

"Wait! What did I say?!" Peorth cried.

The valkyrie commander reentered the living room. Gaeriel rushed up to her.

"Did you get a confession?" Gaeriel asked.

Lind held a finger up and brought her wrist to her lips. "Shepherd to Sheepdog, come in."

"Sheepdog here," Gwydion's voice came in.

"Colonel, Miranda's been spotted in the area," she reported. "I need a team down here pulling security."

"Understood. There's an RRT I can have there in about an hour."

"Expedite this, please," Lind ordered. She signed off and turned to Gaeriel. "Coordinate with the Rapid Response Team when they arrive and maintain security around the temple. Light touch. There's a chance Miranda may try to make contact with Peorth..."

"What about the rampant?" Gaeriel asked. "Once he hears that Peorth is under arrest, he might try to come save her. I'd like permission to use that to our advantage, set a trap for him."

Lind nodded. "Use caution. Defer to the team commander, but if you really think you can trap Wynn, do it."

Gaeriel nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

888

Peorth sat in her crystal cage, miserable and guilt-ridden. If she had simply blasted him when she had the chance...

But she couldn't do that. She simply couldn't.

"Peorth?"

She looked up and saw Skuld poking her head through the door.

"Skuld?!"

The youngest Norn snuck quietly into the room.

"Have they heard anything about your sister or Keiichi?" Peorth asked.

Skuld shook her head. "Not yet."

The love goddess closed her eyes painfully.

"I... I just wanted to say," Skuld began. "... That I don't believe what they're saying about you. That you helped them do it. I want you to know that."

For the first time in nearly 24 hours, Peorth smiled. "Thank you, Skuld."

The young girl looked down at the floor. It was obvious she was sick with worry.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Peorth assured her. She searched for a way to cheer the girl up. Over the past week she had come to think of Skuld almost as a little sister, and to see her so sad made Peorth feel worse than when it was simply her own pain. "How was the prom?" she asked.

Skuld looked up and grimaced as if she wasn't sure she wanted to admit to a crime.

"I kissed him," she confessed with a blush.

"I knew you would," Peorth told her with a smile.

Skuld smiled just a little. "I have to go. Do you need anything?"

Peorth shook her head.

"Okay," Skuld replied, turning to go. "I'll check in on you again later."

Peorth watched her go and the loneliness came back in full force. What was she going to do now?

888

When the phone rang, Urd jumped on it like a lioness on a gazelle. "Hello!" she cried into it, hoping to hear Belldandy or Keiichi's voices. Shoot, even if it were Hild at least that would progress of a sort.

Instead, it was Hasegawa.

"Hello?! Is this Urd?"

"Yeah, Hasegawa, it's me," she said in disappointment. "Look, Keiichi's not h..."

"You have to go to the hospital quick!" Hasegawa interrupted her. "We found Keiichi out by the race track! It looks like he was mugged and beaten up real bad! Tell Belldandy! We had to call an ambulance! He.. He didn't look too good..."

"Okay! We're on our way!" Urd cried and hung up.

888

"Wait here," Nyd commanded as they entered the waiting room for the surgical department of Nekomi University Hospital. Frigga and Skuld hung back, but Urd kept in step with the healer.

The god pushed through a pair of double doors as if he owned the place and grabbed a folder marked, "Morisato, K" from a rack as he passed by. Opening it, he pulled out a set of X-rays and held them up to the light, his steps not slowing once the entire time.

"Damn," he muttered.

"What is it?" Urd asked.

He did a double-take, realizing for the first time she had followed him. "Oh... um... He's... kind of..." He took a breath. "He has skull fractures and a subdural hematoma..."

She pressed a finger to his lips, cutting him off. "Japanese, please."

"Oh," he said, thrown off stride. "It's an intense injury where blood gathers between the dura and the arachnoid..."

"That's not Japanese," she corrected him gently.

"His brain is bleeding," he said, breaking it down.

"Thank you," Urd replied.

He didn't go on. Instead, he pushed through another set of doors where a group of doctors in surgical masks were congregated around someone on a table.

The head surgeon looked up. "Hey... What the... What are you doing here!? Get some masks on!"

Nyd pushed his way past him. "What the... Security! Nurse, get security!"

"No, Nurse, don't get security," Nyd ordered calmly, his eyes scanning over the bloodied and bruised boy lying below. "Instead, get me a type II surgical pack and a some liquid potassium iodide, three pints of whole blood and three slices of American cheese."

"Who in God's name are you?" the surgeon demanded.

"I'm Mr. Morisato's personal physician," Nyd told him, his eyes not leaving Keiichi's face. "Please step aside."

"Like hell!" the doctor told him. "He's hemorraging into his brain! If we don't do something to relieve the pressure..."

Nyd ignored him and turned to Urd. "There's a TV in the waiting room. Go to your potions cupboard and bring back Fell's Feathers and some powdered Esquilax horn."

"Anything else?" she asked.

"No, go now please."

"Look, Mister, I don't..."

Nyd looked up and touched the surgeon's forehead. The doctor fell over asleep.

"Could one of you wheel him out of here for me, please?" he asked courteously as he rolled up his sleeves.

Pulling on his scanning gloves, Nyd went to work.

888

An hour later, Nyd walked into the waiting room, pulling off his scanning gloves. Facing the assembled goddesses and members of the Auto Club, he smiled. "He's fine."

"Fine?!" Hasegawa cried. "He's just about dead when we found him!"

"Er... Yes... well, I used some... new techniques..." he stammered out a lie. "The point is he should be walking around in about an hour and we can take him home an hour after that."

"Is he awake?" Frigga asked.

"Yes, and lucid," Nyd told her. "He told me what happened."

"What did happen?" Megumi asked. "Sora said he was mugged or something."

Nyd cleared his throat. "Well... No, I don't think you could call it that." Given that it was his sister asking, he felt compelled to tell the truth. "Third degree burns to his left arm, multiple broken ribs, a cracked skull, a shattered eye socket, internal bleeding in three places including the brain, multiple lacerations on his back and one of the aforementioned broken ribs punctured his left lung."

Megumi blinked. "And... he's going to be okay?" she whispered.

"Yeah."

"In an _hour_?" she asked.

"Yeah. You can see him, if you like."

Tears welled up in Megumi's eyes. "He's going to be okay?" she asked again.

He nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's going to be perfectly fine," he assured her quietly.

"Oh, God, thank you!" she cried, suddenly, reaching out and embracing the healer.

"It's... fine..." Nyd croaked out. "Re..." Before he could finish the word, Megumi had planted her lips over his and was kissing him.

She squeaked a bit when someone grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her away. "I'm sure you want to see Keiichi," Urd growled as she pulled the young mortal toward her brother's room.

Nyd took a breath as the rest of the Auto Club followed them, leaving Frigga alone with him. He looked up at the queen, an expectant look on her face.

"She's in Hell," he told her. "He knows that much."

Frigga bit her lip and tried not to cry.

"They tortured that boy," Nyd went on quietly. "To force her to do something, but he doesn't know what."

Frigga rose to her full height. "I have to return to Heaven to see what I can do there."

Nyd nodded. "I'll look after Keiichi... and Urd..." he added.

"Thank you," Frigga told him. "As soon as I know something, I'll return."

With that, the queen turned and started for the cafeteria, where she hoped to find an oven she can hitch a ride in.

He turned and found Urd standing before him, her arms cross over her chest. The healer scratched his head and felt his heart plunge into his stomach. "Um... I..." He cleared his throat. "She's obviously... overcome with emotion?" he tried.

"You're going to 'take care of' me?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh, that!" he said, feeling intense relief. "I thought you were glaring at me because..." He started to blush. "You know... Megumi... when she... and..." He looked down an sighed. "You're just getting more annoyed, aren't you?"

"A little."

"Well, I just meant that... in times like this..." He gestured with his hands, unsure of what he was trying to explain, just knowing he was failing overwhelmingly.

Urd's lips quirked up just a bit as she let him dig a deeper hole. She wondered how far he'd dig before he just figured out the correct thing to do is just stop.

Five minutes later, she finally took pity on him and told him to stop.

888

"Look, for the last time, I don't need any help!" Keiichi growled, pulling his arm away from his sister's grip and walking into the temple.

The younger Morisato looked hurt. "Kei chan, I just want to help. You were..."

"I know what I was," he interrupted, cradling his arm, which, though healed, still ached.

Megumi didn't know what to say. He had been very tight-lipped about what happened, and with Belldandy being away visiting friends in Norway, she was a little concerned about leaving him.

But a beating like that... They didn't torture him for the eighty yen and fast food coupon in his wallet. She wondered what kind of trouble he was in... It was starting to sound a lot like Yakuza trouble.

"Is... Is Belldandy going to come home early?" she asked. The boy stiffened. "You know... to take care of you?"

He looked down at the floor, his hands curled into fists. "I'd like to get some sleep now," he bit out.

"Oh... Okay," Megumi said quietly. "If you need anything, you've got my number."

He nodded.

Biting her lip, Megumi walked out of the room.

888

Urd looked up as Nyd sat at the kitchen table across from her. The Norn wasn't doing anything, really. Just sitting, thinking, worrying, wondering...

He sat next to her, wishing he had some idea of what to say. While he felt his relationship, such as it was, with Urd had come a long way, his primary source for romantic or inspirational things to say to girls still came from eighties movies.

"Are you all right?" Nyd asked her. That was good, right? Nice and neutral.

"Who me?" Urd asked, trying to smile but failing miserably.

Feeling a little bolder, he went on, looking down at the table. "Urd, I know you're going through a lot right now. I just want you to know that if you want to talk or anything..."

She grimaced and glared at him. "Damn you," she hissed.

The healer blinked. "Um... What?"

Urd looked away. "Could you be selfish, just once?"

All of Urd's pent up anger at everything that had been happening for the last week suddenly burst forth. "Can't you drop the Dr. Perfect act for just one damn minute?!" she cried. "HUH?!"

"I... I..."

"'I... I...'" she mimicked cruelly. "You've got everyone else in this house fooled into thinking you're this great guy who just wants to help people, well I know it's a load of crap! The worst part is you almost had _me_ fooled into thinking it too! No one is like that! _No one!_ We're all, when you break it down, just a group of selfish, self-absorbed creatures who only want what's best for themselves! You! Me! Frigga! Peorth! Hild! All of us! We all pretend to care about other people when deep down we're only looking out for ourselves! You wouldn't even be talking to me now if you didn't think it might get you some action later!"

He looked down at the table with the eyes of a kicked puppy.

A moment later, she came to her senses. She turned away, realizing how much her words must have hurt him, realizing she didn't really mean them, and realizing there was no way to take them back. "Leave me alone," she begged in a whisper.

"Okay," he said, rising to his feet and starting for the door.

She wanted to call him back, to apologize, but she could bring herself to do it. "Nyd..."

Before she could finish, there was a rattle from the oven and the door to the appliance flew open. Stepping from it as casually as if she were stepping out of a limousine, Frigga entered the kitchen.

"Frigga!" Urd breathed. "Any news?!"

The queen looked a mixture of distraught and enraged. Her hands were clenched at her sides and her teeth gritted. "Hild has claimed her... as the Armistice Child."

"WHAT?!" Urd cried. "She can't do that! _I'm_ the Armistice Child!"

Frigga responded by pulling out a book the size of Tokyo's phone directory and tossing it on the table. "According to the messenger she sent, since the original Armistice Child doesn't live in Hell, she's within her rights to claim another. And since the treaty does not _specifically_ say that the Armistice Child must be _hers_ _biologically_, only a child of The Almighty, Belldandy qualifies!"

"How in Heaven's name can they interpret the treaty like _that_?!" Nyd asked in shock.

Urd sighed and rubbed her temples. "It's Hell," she said simply. "Twenty percent of the population are lawyers..."

"She's not going to let her go," Frigga said, her voice breaking. "They won't even let me speak to her!"

Urd seethed as Nyd took the copy of the treaty and thumbed through it. She slammed her hand on the table and fumed. "Okay," she bit out. "So when are they going in?"

"Going in?" Frigga asked.

"The valkyries!" Urd clarified angrily. "When are they sending the rescue team!?"

Frigga swallowed as anger began to overtake her grief. "They're not."

Urd was sure she misheard. "What?"

The queen looked up at her. "There will be no rescue attempt. Michael believes that if the valkyries move in, Hild will respond with force, Doublet or no. Lind agrees. And your father..." She choked at the very idea but finished a moment later. "Your father said he cannot justify the deaths of so many for one goddess... even his daughter."

Urd collapsed back in her seat. "They're going to appease her..." she whispered. "They're going to give her what she wants and hope she won't ask for more." She closed her eyes.

She stood up a moment later and went to the phone.

"What are you doing?" Frigga asked.

"Heaven had their turn, now it's mine," Urd growled as she dialed. "Good," she said. "I have the HellSouth switchboard." She spoke into the phone a moment later. "Yes, I need to speak to Hild. Yes, I'll hold."

Frigga and Nyd watched as Urd waited, tapping her foot impatiently. "Yes," she said. "I want to speak to Hild. This is Urd." She paused. "What do you mean she's busy?... She's with who?!... How can she be with her daughter?! _I'm_ her daughter! NO, I DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE A MESSAGE! NO, I WILL NOT HOL..." She growled. "They put me on hold again..."

"Yes! Hello!?" she called into the phone. "Tell Hild Urd wants to speak with her now!" She waited a moment and started to rub her temples. "No, I don't want to leave a callback number... Just... Just forget it!" She slammed the receiver into the cradle.

"I can't imagine what they're doing to her," Frigga sniffled. "We don't know if she's hurt, if they hurt her like they did Mr. Morisato... I..."

"I... I think I can help."

The two women turned to Nyd, who was looking down at the treaty.

"Nyn, son, what did you say?" Frigga asked.

He looked up and offered an encouraging smile. "I said, I might be able to help!"

888

"This is our Alamo," Gaeriel told the two valkyries as they entered Peorth's room. The love goddess stood up at the sight of them. "I want motion trackers and hardline jammers concentrated here," she went on.

"Gaeriel!" Peorth cried. "What's going on?! No one is telling me anything!"

The valkyrie gave her a look of disdain. "What's happening is that you might have a chance to redeem yourself." She arched an eyebrow. "If you don't mind helping us set him up for it."

Peorth watched as the valkyries began placing wards throughout the room. "Bait?!" she cried. "You're using me as _bait_?!"

Gaeriel nodded. "I have a feeling he's not going to let you rot down here. And even if was willing to go that far, I've planted a little nugget of information in Yggdrasil's dispatches that might make him come rush to your rescue."

"Look, Gaeriel, you don't know what kind of enemy you're dealing with!" Peorth told her. "None of you do! Ask Miranda! She'll tell you what you're up against!"

Gaeriel shook her head in amazement. "Miranda... I'm sure Colonel Miranda would tell us just about anything if she thought it would save her neck."

"What are you talking about?!" Peorth demanded angrily, sick and tired of being the only one who didn't know what was happening or why.

Gaeriel fixed a steely gaze on her. "Miranda is on our top ten most wanted list," Gaeriel told her. "She walked off the line two centuries ago, and ever since then has been operating somewhere in secret."

"What?" Peorth whispered. "She's not a valkyrie?"

"No, Peorth, she's not a valkyrie," Gaeriel confirmed.

"She's a rampant."


	13. Only Lonely

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

Foreword: Well, this might be the last of the quick updates. The baby comes home today, so I'm going to be a little more busy than before. Thanks to WillZ for prereading this.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 13**_

_**Only Lonely**_

* * *

**"Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face."**

_Nelson DeMille_

* * *

Hild was beaming as she and her Elite escort entered the residence area of the palace. She had given her new adopted daughter a little time with her thoughts, and now it was time to begin their new relationship as mother and daughter.

She admitted it. At first, this was designed to be more of a way of spiting Frigga and even teaching her other daughter a lesson, but as time went by and her mind gnawed on the prospect, she started to see the appeal of a daughter who would be polite, obey her... someone she could mold, mentor... Someone who would...

_Bear me a grandchild_, she thought giddily.

Of course, she would now have to tread extremely carefully. She had no doubt that, given enough time, she could mold Belldandy into a proper princess of Hell, but if she knew that mortal boy had knocked her up, there was no telling what she might do. She had been willing to betray her oaths to Heaven for the sake of her boyfriend. For the sake of her unborn child, who knew what she might be capable of? Fortunately, according to the report her Vector had supplied, it appeared that the child was conceived no more than a day or so ago, so Belldandy was more than likely still blissfully unaware. That gave Hild her window.

The two Elites standing outside her daughter's room stiffened to attention as she approached.

"We are not to be disturbed," she informed them. Then, leaning in, she knocked politely.

"Come in," a weak voice replied, and Hild opened the door, stepping inside.

She smiled as her eyes found Belldandy sitting on her bed, wearing the dark blue dress her ladies-in-waiting had provided and staring off into space. Her eyes were red and puffy, and Hild wondered how much of the last day she had spent crying. She was willing to bet all of it.

"My dear," she began sweetly.

Belldandy seemed to notice her for the first time and, remembering her manners, stood up, offering her a stiff bow. "Your Majesty," she greeted.

Hild felt a thrill run through her. Belldandy was already accepting her place. Hild knew she would. As Metheus had told her, Belldandy was a truth teller. If she made a promise, she would do her best to keep it or spend her life trying.

"Oh, child," she said, stepping up to her and taking her shoulders in her hands. "You needn't address me so formally. We're family now. You can call me 'Hild,' or, preferably... 'Mother.'"

"Yes, Hild..."

"And I prefer 'Mother,'" Hild told her.

Belldandy swallowed and nodded.

"Now, then, sit with me," Hild asked, sitting next to the Norn on her bed. She took the goddess's hand and smiled. "I know this has all been a horrible ordeal for you, and that you're probably very afraid of what's going to happen to you and have many questions. I just want to assure you up front that you are safe here. You are part of our family."

"There are guards at my door," Belldandy told her sadly.

"Of course there are, my dear!" Hild told her as if correcting her on the color of the sky. "Those are your Elites. Your safety is their one responsibility, and they take it quite seriously. Why, they'll kill anything, god or mortal, that comes within ten feet of you without your leave."

"Now," Hild continued. "I know you must have many questions..."

"Is Keiichi all right?" she asked.

Of course, the immediate question. "He is," she said with a smile. "A little bruised, but I'm sure he'll be fine. We returned him this morning."

"Why did you do this to me?" Belldandy asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

The defeat in her voice made Hild's black heart sing. Yes, she would enjoy turning this young goddess into her heir.

She took a breath and began. "It's complicated," she said. "You see... I've always wanted a daughter, and while I love Urd very much, she... She has rejected me," she said sadly. "She made her choices in life and asked me to accept them, which I have done. But I am still entitled to a daughter, and in my dealings with you I've found a young goddess with power, breeding and sophistication. A goddess I can mentor to become a demoness of great power."

"You're going to make me do things," Belldandy concluded. "Horrible things..."

Hild shook her head. "No, my dear. You are my daughter, and I will not force you to do anything you don't want to do. Of course, that said, you understand I can't let you leave yet, not until you've been properly... educated." She gave Belldandy a hug. "But once that's done and you're a demoness in good standing, I'm sure there will be no issue with you returning to Earth to y..."

She got the exact effect she was hoping for. Belldandy's head shot up, hope in her eyes. "Earth? You'd let me go back to Earth? Back to Keiichi?!"

"Of course, my dear," Hild said sweetly, stroking the goddess's hair. "In time." She saw Belldandy's head droop and prepared for her next strike. "You must miss him terribly," she cooed. "Would you like to see him?"

Again, surprise graced the goddess's features. "You said you sent him home!" she accused.

"And indeed I did. Come with me."

888

"This, my dear, is my viewing room," Hild said as they entered a large, circular stone chamber. The walls reached up several hundred feet, ending with an open roof that showed Hell's ugly, red sky. But it was what floated in the center that drew Belldandy's attention.

It was a crystal ball, but not the kind one saw in the movies that might fit into a wizard's cloak. No, this crystal ball sat five feet high, perfectly spherical without a single flaw. It was beautiful in its perfection.

"I call it 'Hild's Window,'" Hild told her. Belldandy blinked, and Hild frowned. "Don't look at me like that," she said. "What's the point of ruling Hell if you can't name stuff after yourself? The point is that this, my dear, allows me to see anything, anyone, anywhere in any unprotected realm." Her lips quirked up in an ironic smile. "Can't see Heaven, of course. Too many wards, but Earth I can see just peachy."

Belldandy stepped forward and reached out, unable to stop herself from being drawn toward the crystal. "How does it work?" she asked.

Hild smiled at her interest. "Think of what you want to see and touch it. Simple as that."

Tentatively, Belldandy reached out and let her finger brush against the crystal. The hardened face of the sphere seemed to ripple as if she touched water, and an image of Keiichi appeared, lying in his futon at the temple, staring at the ceiling with an angry expression on his face.

"What's the delay?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Less than a third of a second," Hild told her. "You can also use your powers to interact, not speak mind you, but interact... Though, I don't recommend it."

"Why not?" Belldandy asked.

Hild circled the orb as she spoke. "The Window establishes a nearly real-time link with whatever part of Creation you happen to be looking at, but the link is weak and while it will allow magic to flow through it, weak spells dissipate before it arrives at the other side, meaning you have to use intensely strong spells for it to work properly. For instance," she said, gesturing back to the image. "If I wanted to shake young Morisato's futon, I'd have to channel so much power through the link that it would literally shake that temple apart."

"But I can see him," Belldandy whispered.

"Yes," Hild told her.

Belldandy continued staring at Keiichi. He looked so sad, so angry. He must be worried sick.

She nearly jumped when Hild came up behind her and placed her hands on her shoulders. "And you are free to come here any time you like and see him, child," she whispered.

Belldandy took a breath and swallowed back tears. "Thank you," she whispered.

Hild smiled. "Come. There's more to show you."

888

Keiichi heard a knock on his door and turned his head, not bothering to get up from the futon. "Yeah?" he called out.

Urd poked her head in. "Hey," she said in greeting.

The boy said nothing as Urd entered his room. "You missed lunch," she said.

"Yeah, I'm not hungry," he said, looking up at the ceiling.

Urd sat down next to him. "You know what Nyd said," she reminded him. "You have to eat until your metabolism slows down again. That trick he played healing you aged you about seven months in ten minutes..."

"Yeah, I know," he said.

The goddess bit her lip. "She's going to be fine," she told him, not sure she believed it herself.

"It pisses me off," he muttered. "It pisses me off that she did that..."

Urd blinked in surprise. "What?"

He shook his head angrily. "She should have held out."

"Keiichi, they were killing you!" she cried. "She couldn't bear that, you know it!"

His eyes, angry, painful lanterns, found hers. "I held on," he bit out. "For her. Do you understand?" He glared up at the ceiling and slammed his hand against the floor in frustration. "I was willing to take whatever they could dish out. I didn't care." He shook his head again as a tear formed at the corner of his eye. "The things they did, Urd... You wouldn't believe the things they can do. If they had wanted anything else, I would have given it to them in a couple of minutes, but I thought... I _knew_... they wanted _her_ so I fought them..."

This last part came out as a sob, and Urd knew what she was witnessing was a bloodletting of the soul. It moved her to tears to see that much pain in one place.

"I know," she whispered. "What happened wasn't your fault."

"And they weren't even torturing _me_," he bit out. "They were using me to hurt her. Like I was a pair of fucking pliars or a..." He raised his left arm and sobbed. "... a... blowtorch..."

Urd bit her lip as her would-be brother-in-law started to cry in earnest, his chest heaving as sobs racked his entire body. She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently.

"It's okay," she said. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get her back."

He turned away from her, ashamed of crying in front of her while Belldandy was still a prisoner. She needed him, and he was, as usual, typically useless.

Urd stood up. "I'll bring you a sandwich or something later, okay?"

He didn't reply.

The goddess walked out of the room.

888

Hild led her down the cavernway, continuing the grand tour of the palace. Belldandy was having a difficult time reconciling the fact that she was a prisoner with the way the demon queen was treating her. Not a single unkind word or act yet, no threats subtle or otherwise, and rather than try to hide things, sensitive areas of the palace, Hild seemed to take great pride in showing them off. Every question Belldandy asked got an in-depth answer. It was bizarre...

As they walked, a group of demons passed on their left in full battle gear. Belldandy stopped and blinked when she realized she recognized the three in front.

Carestia, seeing her, gave her a wink and blew her a kiss, a bow secured to the front of her armor by a lanyard clacked against her chest as she walked by.

Belldandy paused and watched them go by. "Are they..."

"The remains of The Seven," Hild told her with a smile. "Heaven's great attempt to undermine me turned against them. We hunted down and killed four of the others, but those three had potential."

"Where are they going?" Belldandy asked, once again expecting to be rebuffed and instead being surprised at receiving an answer.

"An off-realm operation," Hild told her. "Realm Twenty today, I believe. This way."

Belldandy followed along, struggling to keep up with the devil queen. "H... Mother," she said, carefully broaching the subject. "You mentioned earlier that I... might be allowed to return to Earth at some point."

Hild smiled. Yes, the promise of reward for good behavior. It was almost surreal at how well this was working. "Indeed," she replied. "Of course, it all depends on you."

"On me?" Belldandy asked as they turned a corner.

"Quite," Hild told her. "I can't unleash you unto Creation until you've been properly trained. So the sooner you complete that training, the sooner I'll allow you to leave Hell."

Belldandy digested this, wondering how far she was willing to go to see Keiichi again, her real family... "What does this training consist of?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

Hild looked at her and smiled. "Being a demoness, my little Belldandy, is more than having a sense of flair. It's our job to make people happy."

This last statement floored the goddess. "But... you're demons..."

The queen gave her an almost stern look. "_We_ are demons," she corrected. "And regardless, the mission remains the same."

"I don't understand," Belldandy said, again doing her best to keep up.

Hild smiled again. "You were a granter, yes?" At Belldandy's nod she continued. "We also grant wishes... The difference is, we make sure our wishes matter."

"But... You take people's souls," Belldandy countered.

"Yes, _we_ do," Hild told her. "Consider your own situation. I happen to know that at the time Mr. Morisato made his wish, he wasn't even sure you were real."

"True, but..."

"But nothing," Hild told her. "He spoke off the cuff as if it didn't mean anything. 'Wish for anything?! Okay, tra-la-la!'" she sang. She stopped and turned, fixing her stare on Belldandy. "When we make a deal, child, our clients know _exactly_ what they're getting into. They know _exactly_ what they're paying. And _they_ decide what their soul is worth. You don't trade your soul for a dirtbike! You make sure that you get the absolute most out of it. So you tell me whose wishes are worth more. Something given has no value, Belldandy."

Belldandy didn't know what to say. No one had ever explained it like that before. She was about to ask another question, but one of Hild's Elites leaned down to whisper into the queen's ear.

Hild arched and eyebrow. "Here?" she asked. The Elite whispered an answer. "I told them no visitors..." Again the Elite whispered. Hild smiled. "Citing the treaty, are they? Do they really think they're going to play this game better than me?" The Elite shrugged.

She turned to Belldandy. "My dear, I'm afraid we'll have to continue this later. Please return to your room. The Elites will show you the way."

"Mother," Belldandy interrupted. Hild, piqued by not detecting any hesitation in the goddess's voice as she said the word, gestured for her to continue. "May I go to the Window?" she asked, her eyes cast downward. "I... I would like to see Keiichi."

Hild smiled lovingly. "Of course, my dear. The Elites will show you the way." She held her arms out.

Belldandy paused. Then, hesitantly, she stepped forward and allowed the queen to embrace her.

"Go on, child."

Disgusted with herself, but grateful all the same, Belldandy turned and followed her guards down the hallway.

As Belldandy walked away, Hild's smile dropped. "Okay, take me to the little toad," she ordered the Elite.

888

As Hild entered the throne room, she was surprised at who it was who met her there. The Elite had told her it was a group of healers, but she wasn't expecting _him._

"Well, well," she said as Nyd and two female healers bowed to her in greeting. "So we meet again. Done trying to fuck my daughter?"

Nyd didn't rise to the bait. Taking a breath, he tried to give an air of confidence in the presence of the cruelest and most powerful demon in Creation. "Lady Hild," he said. "We have come to see Belldandy."

The queen chuckled and leaned in. "I told you all... no visitors. No correspondence. The treaty says I get a child, and that child is Belldandy. If The Almighty has a problem with that, he's welcome to send Lind down here with her valkyries and we'll settle it the old fashioned way. But he's not going to, and I know he's not going to because instead of sending Lind and her valkyries, he sent a stammering little nerdboy like you."

Nyd forced a smile. "But Milady," he said, "We are here to perform duties _outlined_ by the treaty."

Hild blinked. "What?"

The healer cleared his throat. "Under chapter seven, section twenty-three, 'Disposition of the Armistice Child as it Pertains to Health and Wellness.' It says that as long as the Armistice Child lives in Hell, healers from Heaven _must_ be allowed periodic, _unannounced_ visits to examine the child and ensure her health, nutrition and wellness needs are being met. As an officer of the Surgeon General's Office, I am here to carry out our rights under that treaty."

Hild paused. Smiling, she started to clap. "I'll give you credit, Nod, well played."

"Nyd," he corrected.

"Your name means nothing to me," she told him. "Very well, in the interest of upholding the integrity of the treaty, I will allow you to examine my daughter."

"Thank you, Milady..."

"BUT..." she said, holding up a finger. "There are provisions. First, the no correspondence rule stands. My Elites will check you for letters or hidden messages, and you will be checked again as you leave."

"Very well," Nyd said in disappointment. He was carrying letters from Frigga and Urd, all for naught now.

"And no scans," Hild added quickly.

This threw Nyd off guard. "I'm sorry," he said. "What?"

Hild folded her arms over her chest. "No scans. You may perform a physical examination and interview about her health, provide or prescribe medications, but she will not be scanned." She waved his questioning look aside. "For all I know your scanners could plant tracking programs or bugs or who knows what else..."

It was by far the most irrational request Nyd had ever heard. Medical scanners couldn't do those kinds of things, and even if they could the treaty would prevent them from being used as such. Still...

"Very well," he agreed.

"My guards will take you to her room," she said.

888

The lightbulb overhead began to shine brightly, but before Urd could investigate it, someone popped out of it, landing nimbly on her feet.

"Hello!" the goddess said, greeting her with a smile. The raven-haired goddess wore a flowing green dress that shimmered in the light. Gold bangles on her arms and in her hair rang softly as she moved. "My name is Karisuma, I'm from the Goddess Help Line."

"Oh?" Urd said, blinking.

"Indeed," she said. "I'm looking for Mr. Keiichi Morisato."

Urd's eyes narrowed. "May I ask what this is about?"

Karisuma's smile faltered. "It's about Belldandy," she said. "Please, may I see him?"

The Norn let out a breath. Of course Belldandy's friends would want to show their support for Keiichi in such a time.

"Sure," she said. "This way."

Karisuma followed Urd to the college student's room. "Look," Urd said to her. "He's a little... out of it... I know you want to help, just don't take what he says the wrong way, okay?"

The other goddess nodded. "Thank you. I'm sure we'll get along wonderfully."

Blinking at the statement, she watched Karisuma knock on the door and enter a moment later. Shrugging, Urd went back to the kitchen. Standing over the sink, she looked down at the collection of dirty dishes and realized that with Belldandy gone, Keiichi wigged out and Frigga overcome with worry, no one was going to wash them.

Sighing, she turned on the water and started looking for the soap. As she worked, her thoughts went to Nyd, who was probably walking into Hild's throne room right now. She shook her head, again humiliated by her own behavior toward him. A mere minutes after she had berated him, mocked him, he had stood up and volunteered to go to Hell under a flimsy pretext and check on Belldandy for them.

She still didn't know why she had exploded like that. Maybe it was just her total feeling of helplessness finally getting the better of her. All she knew was that there were plenty of people she knew who had deserved that kind of insulting barrage... and Nyd wasn't one of them.

Turning off the faucet, she dried her hands and turned as raised voices floated down the hall toward the kitchen. "What the hell?" she asked herself, starting toward the hall.

She turned the corner just in time to see Karisuma back into the hallway, her hands clasped over her chest in fear.

"GET OUT!" Urd heard Keiichi shout. "GET OUT!"

"But... Mr. Morisato, I..."

The mortal stepped into the hall, practically chasing the young goddess toward Urd.

"She's been gone barely a day, and they send you?!" he cried. "For fuck's sake, I thought you people were still at least _trying_ to get her back!"

Karisuma backed into Urd and squeaked in surprise, thinking herself trapped.

"What's going on?!" Urd cried.

"Did you know about this?!" Keiichi demanded.

"Mr. Morisato, we're only trying to..."

"SHUT UP!" he shouted at her. He turned his attention back to Urd. "Did you know?!"

"Know what?!" Urd cried. "Almighty best and greatest, Keiichi, calm down..."

He pointed at the raven-haired woman. "She's the new Belldandy," he ground out between clenched teeth.

Urd blinked. "What?"

"Yeah," he gasped, wild-eyed. "She's been gone less than two days, and they sent me a new Belldandy..."

The Norn couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What do you mean a new Belldandy?"

Karisuma cleared her throat and desperately tried to get hold of the situation. "Mr. Morisato's original wish was that a goddess _like_ Belldandy always be at his side," she explained. "With Belldandy gone, that wish is now listed as unfulfilled, so they sent me to..."

Urd cut her off. "Does Frigga know about this?!" she demanded.

Karisuma blinked. "I... I don't think so... The order came down from The Almighty's office..."

The Norn tried to hold back rage. No wonder Keiichi was breaking down. "Karisuma," she whispered quietly, trying to reign in the things she really wanted to say. "Go back to Heaven."

"But... Mr. Morisato's wish..."

She squeaked again as he walked up and put a finger up to her face. "You go back," he whispered dangerously. "And you tell The Almighty that if he really wants to grant my wish, he can get off his ass and get Belldandy out of Hell."

Karisuma turned dead white. "You can't say that," she whispered. "He's The Almighty... You... You can't say that!"

Keiichi didn't back down. "I'd say that about _any_ father who'd let his own daughter rot in a place like that," he hissed. "You tell him. You _tell him_ I said that. And you ask him how we're supposed to believe in him when he lets shit like this happen."

The goddess swallowed nervously and nodded, shaking at what she had heard. Turning, she rushed to the nearest lamp and disappeared.

Urd regarded Keiichi, not sure whether she was appalled at his blasphemy or thoroughly impressed by it. "A little over the top, don't you think?" she asked. "He _is_ The Almighty, after all."

Keiichi lit a cigarette and took a drag before answering. "If he's so almighty, why's Belldandy in Hell?" he asked her. "If he's so almighty, why are there goddesses lying in comas all over the world while the guys who put them there are walking around free? I've got to tell you, Urd, right now, I'm not seeing the omnipotence."

Urd thought on that. "If Belldandy heard you say that..."

"Belldandy's not here," he grumbled, tossing the empty cigarette pack away.

"I didn't know you smoked," Urd said, changing the subject.

"I didn't know you did dishes," he replied, pointing the cancer stick at the kitchen. "So I guess we're both surprised."

Urd smiled. "Not every mortal has the balls to tell God to fuck off, really knowing he can hear them," she said. "I remember the old days when you didn't have a spine."

He snorted. "Yeah, well, what's he going to do? Send me to Hell? Urd, I should find such an angel of mercy..."

888

Belldandy had missed witnessing the exchange. Just as Karisuma, a friend of hers from the Goddess Help Line, had entered Keiichi's room, one of her Elites whispered into her ear that Hild wanted her back in her room. Regretfully turning away from the orb, she allowed them to lead her back to the chambers Hild had provided and sat on the bed, wondering what the demoness would spring on her next.

There came a knock, and once again expecting Hild, she rose to her feet and straightened her skirt. "Come in," she called. The door opened, and her spirits immediately shot up into the roof. "NYD SAN!"

The healer was pushed back a step as the Norn rushed up and embraced him, sobbing into his shirt.

"Please tell me you're here to take me home," she whimpered.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Belldandy, I'm not," he said, taking her by the shoulders. "We don't have much time. Please sit down on the bed."

"What are you doing here?" Belldandy asked. "Is Moder with you? Urd? How is Keiichi recovering?"

He knelt before her as she sat down. Nearby, the other two healers were inspecting her accommodations, keeping up the pretense. "We used a loophole in the treaty," he told her. "This is a health and wellness visit. Healers only."

"Oh," she said, her face drooping.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "I'm trapped in the demonic realm," she said. "I've turned my back on my oaths and my promise to Keiichi. I may never see my family again. Nyd san, I am most certainly _not_ all right!"

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I meant physically. Have they hurt you?" She shook her head. "Were you wounded?"

"They shot me with something that restrained my movements," she told him, showing him her right hand. "But one of their healers removed it."

"A Vector?" he asked, taking her hand and examining it. She swallowed and nodded, noting the concerned look on his face. "Did they inject you with anything? Force you to swallow anything?"

She shook her head. "No. They offered me some food, but I haven't been hungry..."

Summoning a Lighting spell, he checked her pupils and conducted a brief examination. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Nothing? Do you feel different, like they drugged you?"

She shook her head.

He sat back on his haunches, a puzzled look on his face. "Belldandy, Hild won't let me scan you. Can you think of a reason why she wouldn't want me to?"

Belldandy blinked. "No... I don't understand..."

Nyd shook his head. "Neither do I. If they had injected you with a tracker or poison, it might make sense, but you're _certain..._"

"Positive," she confirmed.

"Well, you don't seem any worse for wear," he told her. "They wouldn't let me bring letters," he told her. "But your mother and sister send their love and say they're working on getting you out of here."

"And Keiichi?" she asked breathlessly.

"He says, 'hold on.' He knows you'll see each other again."

"Thank you," she said. "Tell Moder and Urd I love them too, and tell Keiichi..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Tell Keiichi I can _see_ him."

Puzzled, Nyd nodded, but Belldandy wouldn't go into further detail. He asked her more questions about her treatment until another knock on the door signaled the end of the visit.

Rising to her feet, she hugged Nyd fiercely. "Thank you," she said.

"If this drags out, we'll be making more visits," he said. "We can't push out luck, so it might be awhile." his voice dropped to a whisper. "I've seen these kind of situations before," he told her quietly. "Somalia, Chechnya... Be ready. If and when the time comes, don't try to help. Drop to the floor and obey any instruction the rescue team gives. Understand?"

She nodded. "Thank you."

"Hang in there," he said. With a final glance, Nyd and the other two healers walked out. Belldandy took a breath. She felt better. She wasn't alone.

888

"Oh, that poor girl," Frigga sighed as she put her head in her hands. Clasping them together a moment later, she turned to Urd, seated at the kitchen table on her right, and shook her head. "Your father can be a little on the stupid side sometimes, Urd."

"So you didn't know?" she asked.

She shook her head. "Sending Karisuma down here a mere day after the attack... Lunacy... That poor girl, though. She must have felt so honored to be chosen to succeed Belldandy."

"Something tells me the honor's lost some of its shine now," Urd said.

"How is Keiichi?" Frigga asked.

Urd bit her lip. "Not good," she replied. "Physically, he's healing well. But..." She shook her head. "They didn't just take Belldandy from him, Frigga. It's like he feels they took his manhood. I think they really screwed with his head down there."

"That poor boy," Frigga whispered.

"Did you know he didn't break?" Urd asked. Frigga looked up at him. "He thought they were trying to get some kind of dirt on Belldandy, so he refused to cooperate." She glanced down at the table. "Now that he thinks he was just a way to make Belldandy do what they want, he feels like he betrayed her."

Frigga sighed. "That boy should have been born a god."

They heard the door open and looked up.

"Hello?" Nyd called.

"Nyd!" Frigga cried, rising to her feet. The young healer entered, and Frigga practically threw herself into a hug. "You're safe! Splendid! What did thoust learn?"

He sat down and gave them a rundown of his conversation with Belldandy.

"My poor Belldandy," Frigga sniffled. "I can only imagine the kind of treatment she's getting from that foul, evil witch!"

"Actually, she said she's been treated well," Nyd told her. "And I don't think she was trying to spare you with that, she seemed genuinely surprised by it herself. Which brings me to something else," he continued. "Can either of you think of a reason why Hild would refuse to let me scan her?"

Urd and Frigga looked at one another. "Perhaps they poisoned her or..."

"She says they haven't," he said. "It was very odd. Her reasons were obviously flawed. She's definitely hiding something."

"Then we should endeavor to find what that something is," Frigga told him. "When can you see her again?"

He sighed. "A few weeks maybe."

Frigga's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Thank you, son," she told him. "From the bottom of my heart, I swear I'll never forget it."

He shrugged and looked away, embarrassed by the praise. "It was only what I was supposed to do anyway," he argued.

She smiled and reached out, squeezing his hand. "Never," she repeated. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to write an angry letter to your father, Urd, and another to Karisuma to soothe the poor girl. Excuse me."

Nyd rose as the queen left the room and went to the sink, filling a glass with water. Standing a few feet away, Urd took a breath. "Nyd, thank you..."

"Forget it," he said, cutting her off, but not looking at her. "Like I said... it's just something I would have done anyway..."

She bit her lip. She hated apologizing, even when she was in the wrong. "About before..."

"It's okay," he said quietly, still not making eye contact. "I understand."

"No, you don't," Urd corrected him. "I was just... I was just angry and feeling helpless and I lashed out at the first person who showed himself and it just happened to be you, and..."

"Urd," he said, his voice just above a whisper, but the exasperation in it loud as a thunderclap. "My offer still stands." He stared down into the sink. "If you want me to go, just tell me, and I'll go. It's okay. It really is. You don't have to pretend to like me, that's not what I want. And at the same time, I don't want to be in a relationship where I'm going to be treated like that. If you want me to leave, say so. If not... then... say so."

He raised his head and turned to her, bracing himself to hear her decision. But she didn't answer... well... not the way he was expecting anyway.

Her lips caught his, and she rested her hands against his chest as she leaned into him, making it hard for him to break the kiss, even if he wanted to. Instead, he shut his eyes and followed the advice she gave him last time, kissing back. Her hands moved up and her arms wrapped around his neck.

He had to admit, he was a little confused at the mixed signals, but he pushed his questions aside as long as the kiss lasted. It was Heaven. Wrapping his own arms around her, he pulled her into him, unwilling to let her go just yet. She could blast him later if she liked, but he wanted that kiss to last.

Their lips parted, and she rested her head against his shoulder. "Don't go," she whispered.

Even after the kiss, that answer surprised him. "Um... why?" he asked quietly, feeling like an idiot for saying it.

"Because I don't want you to."

"Oh," he replied. "Okay." He mentally smacked himself, knowing he was ruining what might be the moment in their lives when something really changed.

"Nyd?"

"Yeah?"

She didn't look up at him yet. Instead, she squeezed a little tighter. "Just shut up and hold me, okay?"

This time, he listened and held her tightly, reveling in her warmth and taking in the scent of her hair.

_So... this is what it feels like,_ he thought. He breathed deeply and closed his eyes.


	14. If I Was Your Mother

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 14**_

_**If I Was Your Mother**_

* * *

**"You never killed for your country; you killed for yourself. God is never going to make that go away."**

_John J. Rambo_

_"Rambo"_

* * *

She was surprised to find she wasn't alone upon entering the viewing room. Although the person she was with could not yet be seen, Hild's Window as working, which meant _someone_ was using it.

Belldandy squinted, trying to make out what was being viewed. She blinked as she realized she recognized the place in the window as a room in the temple. In the center of the room, lying on a futon surrounded by a crystalline prison construct, was Peorth. The goddess was tossing and turning in her sleep, troubled by who knew what kind of nightmare.

"Peorth," Belldandy whispered.

"Princess,"

She gasped and turned, her hand going to her chest. "Hello?"

The goddess saw a tiny, orange ember moving in the shadows. With the sound of boots on stone, Metheus stepped into the light, cigarette in hand.

"I did not mean to frighten you," he told her.

Belldandy choked back her anger at this man, this god who had betrayed everyone who cared about him, who tortured _her_ Keiichi...

She let the anger float away like smoke on the wind. If she was to maintain her spirit in this place, she had to be the goddess she had always been and offer forgiveness.

"Mr. Wynn," she greeted, albeit a little stiffly.

"Metheus," he corrected. "There is no Wynn. Not anymore."

"I see," she said. "I did not mean to disturb you. I came to see Keiichi."

"Then I shall leave you to it," he said, starting for the door.

"She's in agony, you know," she told him. "I have never seen her so distraught as I had when she thought you were dead."

He paused and turned back to her. Carefully, he circled the Window, locking his good eye on her. "Do you know what they're doing to you?" he asked.

She looked away. "They want to turn me into a demon," she said simply.

He took a drag on his cigarette. "Only The Almighty can do such a thing," he said. "Hild wants you to _choose_ to be here. That's why it was necessary for you to make your oaths to her without us laying a hand on you."

She knew there was truth to his words. The goddess could feel it inside her. A small black stain on her spirit. She knew the longer she stayed, the more it would grow, consuming her soul.

Belldandy also knew that her reasons for doing it were pure, they had to be. It was her only hope of redemption.

"I didn't choose to be here," she told him sadly. "I chose to save Keiichi's life. You would not understand."

"Wouldn't I?" he asked. He circled the Window and approached her. "You love, Princess. In that we are the same... and different."

"How so?" she asked. "The things you do are cruel, malicious..."

He looked at the Window, at the image of Peorth sleeping there. "I love her the way you love Keiichi," he told her. "In that, we are the same. How we're different is in how far we're willing to go. Tabitha told me about your breaking. You would have given your life to stop my torture of your boyfriend. You would have gladly died..."

"Yes," she said, unflinchingly. "I would have given my life to save his."

"Would you have given mine?" he asked.

"I... I don't understand."

"No," he said. "Your sacrifice is easy. You own your own life. You may do with it as you will." He turned back to the Window. "To save her life..." He took a breath and nodded. "To save her life I'd kill every man, woman and child, mortal and immortal, in Creation and burn Heaven to its foundations. Anyone who resists, anyone who opens their eyes at me. I have no regrets about torturing Keiichi, because it means I'm one step closer to being with _her_ again."

She thought on that, wondered if she could do the same.

"Not yet," he told her, sensing her question. "When you can... they've won."

He stepped away and walked out the door. Taking a breath, Belldandy turned to the Window and touched it, finding Keiichi's sleeping form in the next room.

888

Peorth looked up at the moon and took a breath before turning to the man sitting on the roof next to her.

Wynn sat there, looking down at the courtyard. It was the night they had reconnected after he returned from Hell. Every dream was different, from some other moment in their time together.

"So what is it this time?" she asked sadly. "Who are you killing tonight? Granters? Healers? What?"

The rampant shook his head. "I just thought you might need me."

She regarded him quizzically. "Who are you?" she asked. "At first... I thought you were just a dream... and then I thought you were... well... maybe a piece of you reaching out to me, to warn me. That maybe you were still on our side... But I saw you at the school... You had no idea how I knew..."

He turned his good eye toward her.

"Who are you?" she asked again.

There was a shimmer over Wynn's face, revealing a pair of grey eyes and blonde hair. With another shimmer, Wynn's face reappeared.

Peorth let out a shocked breath. "Lucky Jack?" she whispered.

The angel gave her a half-smile. "Not all of me," he said. "When we bonded in The Spark... and were... ripped apart..."

"A part of you remained," she finished.

He looked down. "I clung to you... to Gorgeous Rose..." he continued. "She's been hiding me... I'm not very much, but I still have a connection to Black Jack..."

"Black Jack?"

Lucky Jack looked up at her. "The other part of me. He's... I'm..." He looked away. "I'm in a dark, evil place, Peorth. Me, and him and Wynn."

"What do they want?" she asked.

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Revenge."

"For what?"

"For being what they are," he told her. "They hate what they are, what they've become. They hate themselves. And they're looking for anything that can give their lives meaning again. Hell can offer them that."

He turned to her. "And he wants you."

Peorth shut her eyes. "And I want him. I want things to be the way they were."

The angel looked at her. "You were always the source of our greatest joy," he told her. "Always."

She opened her eyes and blinked back tears. "Can he be saved?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "Rampancy... isn't a disease like a cancer or pox. It's an epiphany. A moment when you realize that words can mean only what you want them to mean. In that respect, Wynn's rampancy is accelerating. He offered his loyalty to The Almighty... then turned. He offered it to Hild, and now..."

Peorth's mouth dropped open. "Are you saying he might turn on Hild?" she asked. If that was true, it was huge.

"You ask that as if it might be a good thing," Lucky Jack said. "Wynn's not stupid. He knows Hild's entire plan revolves around him. And he also knows that once it stops revolving around him, he's expendable again. He's playing a game for blood. He doesn't want to be Hild's slave anymore than he wants to be The Almighty's."

"Miranda," Peorth breathed. "She might be able to help them."

"If she's telling the truth," Lucky Jack cautioned. "Paranoia is a symptom of rampancy, but even the paranoid have enemies."

"Will you help me?" she asked.

"Of course," he said. "I love you too, you know." He smiled.

She smiled back. "I'll find a way to fix you," she said. "I swear I will."

"Just promise me one thing," he said.

"Of course."

He locked his eye on hers. "Don't try to link with him again."

"Last time it nearly worked," she argued.

"And I was divided," he told her. "Now all that remains is Black Jack, and he is a dark and twisted thing. And he will kill you. And he'll love doing it."

She nodded. "Thank you."

He smiled and leaned in, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning."

Her eyes opened and she shot up in bed. The crystal wall met her there. She sighed and started planning. Somehow, she had to get in touch with Miranda. Somehow, she had to get out of this cage. And somehow, she had to find Wynn.

All that _and_ she had to save Belldandy.

It was going to be a long week...

888

"Okay," she said drowsily. "You can't tell me you haven't done that before."

"A..Are you okay?" he asked.

Urd glanced away long enough to roll her eyes. It was such a typical virgin question to ask.

"Because I know I'm not very good," he stammered. "I mean... well... obviously.. You... You're my first. Like you said before... no goddess had ever 'offered herself' to me... and... you were great! I mean, better than great! I mean..."

"Nyd..." she cautioned.

"And I guess I was pretty clumsy, and that's not what I want to be for you, you know?" he continued on.

"Nyd..."

"Because you deserve someone who knows what they're doing," he went on, oblivious to her warning tone. "I mean, you deserve a guy who can make you feel as good as you made me feel, and I'm just not..."

"Nyd!"

He took a breath. "I'm s..."

"Don't say it!" she cried at him, pointing to the sky as if to bring down a lightning bolt. "So help me, God, if you apologize for making love to me it will be the last time we ever do!"

He shut his mouth tight.

She let out a breath. "That's what I thought," she said with a smile. "And you have nothing to worry about."

"So... I was okay?" he asked.

She put her hand on his chest and ran her fingers up and down. "Very much so," she confirmed.

"Are you sure?" he asked, some of that old nervousness returning. "If not, please tell me. I... I want it to be... you know... good for you..."

Her smile intensified. He was sweet, and it was one of the things she liked about him. Yes, he had been clumsy. Yes, she had walked him through a couple of things. Yes, he was inexperienced. But he was also a considerate, caring lover, and she could tell _she_ was on his mind the entire time.

"I'll part with a nasty secret, Nyd," she said quietly. "I have an ex-boyfriend."

"O...oh," he said.

"Mm hmm," she confirmed. "And let me just say that when I was with him, it was kind of obvious who he was there for."

"I... I see," he said.

"Don't lie, you have no idea," she said with a smile. "What I mean to say is, when he and I made love, his pleasure was foremost on his mind and foremost on mine. With lovers, you're supposed to care most for the other person. And you did that. And that made it wonderful."

He let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. "I'm glad."

She caressed his face with the back of her hand. "So am I."

"So... does this mean the marriage is on?" he asked.

She smiled at him. "Of course not," she said. "It means we're lovers. One thing at a time, Nyd. One thing at a time."

Now he was just plain confused.

A knock at the door broke up their pillow talk.

"Urd?"

The Norn blinked. "Gaeriel?" She rose from the futon and put on her silk robe. Parting the door an inch, she found the Valkyrie's eye on the other side.

"Yeah," Gaeriel said. "Look, you guys need to clear out until I say you can come back."

"What?" Urd asked in amused shock.

"Yeah," Gaeriel confirmed. "Ms. Frigga is already getting you rooms at the Hyatt downtown. I need you to get Nyd, Keiichi and Skuld and stay there for a few days."

"Why?" Urd asked. "Are we hiding?"

"No," the valkyrie told her. "You're getting out of the line of fire. Wynn's coming. Tonight."

"How do you know?" Urd asked.

"Because I left him a little message saying I'm going to kill his girlfriend."

888

"Look, I appreciate the offer," Keiichi said as he and Megumi walked down the street. "But I think I'm just going to room with Otaki."

Megumi's face fell. "Kei chan, you want to sleep in the same room with _Otaki_?" When Keiichi had told her the temple was being fumigated, she offered him the futon in her living room. She was genuinely surprised he was turning her offer down in favor of hanging out with Otaki for three days.

"It'll be like old times," he told her, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

His sister watched him light up and frowned. "I thought you quit," she said.

"Yeah, well I started again," he said.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes. Finally, she decided there would be no good time and reached into her pocket. "By the way," she said. "Here's that money I owe you."

"Money?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, holding out a wad of bills. "You know... for crashing at your place, drinking your beer, eating Belldandy's cooking..."

She wasn't sure if it was the offer itself or the mention of Belldandy, but his face suddenly pinched. "Keep it," he said. "You don't owe me for that kind of stuff."

"Look, Kei chan, take it. I know you need it."

"I _need_ it?" he asked. "Since when?"

She bit her lip and realized there was no _good_ way to say it. "Look... Kei chan... I don't know how much you owe them or if you're just into something bad... but... Look, I want to help..."

"Megumi, are you high?" he asked.

"Are... Are you?" she asked tentatively.

"What?" he asked, lowering the cigarette.

"Oh god," she muttered under her breath as she realized this was going to get a lot worse before it got better. "Kei chan... Belldandy... she... she left, didn't she?"

He flicked the ashes from his cigarette and turned away. "I told you," he said. "She's visiting home..."

"While her mom is visiting Japan?" Megumi asked. "That doesn't strike you as weird?" Her face turned sympathetic. "Did... Did she leave you because of the money thing?"

"What money thing?!" he asked, exasperated.

"You know what I'm talking about," she said. "Muggers don't torture a guy and leave him in the street for what you keep in your wallet. That's down and dirty Yakuza stuff. So what happened?" she asked. "Did you gamble and get in over your head? Did you..." She hated even thinking it. "Did they get you hooked on something?"

He stared at her and slowly shook his head in amazement. "Wow," he muttered. "Just... wow." He turned and pressed the button for the walk sign.

She pressed her hands to the sides of head, realizing how crazy it all sounded. Just as she was about to try again, a ball rolled by her feet into the road, followed by a five year old girl chasing it.

"Kei chan..."

An approaching truck slammed on its horn...

888

Belldandy watched as Keiichi and his sister walked down the street. The expression on her lover's face was grim, and she wondered what they were talking about.

She heard the door open, but didn't turn from the Window. She already had an idea of who it might be.

"I thought I might find you here," Hild said cheerily. "And how is young Morisato?"

"He appears to be doing better," Belldandy allowed. "But he's still so... angry..."

"He's frustrated, I'm sure," Hild told her. "Heaven... well... I'll be honest with you, I expected a little more effort from Heaven in regards to trying to get you back. Their response has been lukewarm at best."

She saw Belldandy flinch, not much. Just the tiniest bit, but the goddess recovered and passed it off quickly. "Fighting for me would result in a battle," she said. "People would get hurt. I'm not worth that..."

"Yes, you are," Hild corrected. Belldandy looked up at her and saw amazement on the demoness's face. "How can you think that?"

"I am but one goddess..."

"Not to him," she said, gesturing to Keiichi. "I think that boy would move Heaven and Earth for you."

Belldandy's conversation with Metheus came back to her. Logically, she understood why Heaven would be hesitant to start a war over her, but knowing what Metheus was willing to do for Peorth, what Keiichi was willing to do for her...

"We have a big day today," Hild told her. "We're going out!"

"Out?" Belldandy asked.

"Time to show you how we do things," Hild told her. "You're coming with me, and we're going to make a few deals."

Belldandy swallowed. "We're going to take people's souls," she said.

"We're going to grant their fondest wishes," Hild corrected. "The price fits the prize..."

Belldandy wasn't listening. She watched the Window as the ball rolled into the street and a little girl ran after it... Saw the truck cresting the hill too fast as it drove toward them...

Then saw Keiichi run into the street.

"KEIICHI!" she screamed.

She raised her hands...

888

"KEI CHAN!" Megumi screamed as she watched her brother race into the street. Tripping on something, he reached out and shoved the girl out of the lane as he hit the asphalt. The truck blasted its horn.

Keiichi rolled onto his side and watched the truck looming over him like an unstoppable force of nature. He could see the frantic look on the driver's face, hear the high-pitch squeal as the man stood on the brakes, but Keiichi knew automobiles and knew for a fact that truck wasn't stopping.

Suddenly, the truck's front grill imploded inward and the back of the truck launched into the air like the whole vehicle was a bike someone had shoved a stick into the front spokes of. He ducked as the truck flew end over end over his head, landing on the other side of him and rolling down the street in a heap of jagged, twisted metal.

Breath ragged in fear, Keiichi looked at the wreck in complete shock. He tried to rise to his feet, but the shock of nearly dying dragged him to the ground again. He saw a blood-stained arm hanging from the cab window and climbed to his feet again.

"Kei chan!" Megumi cried, as she grabbed his arm and tried to lay him down. "Don't move! Are you hurt?!"

"Help him," he muttered.

"Just don't move, are you okay?" Megumi went on. "Hold on..."

He roughly pulled his arm away. "I SAID HELP _HIM_, GOD DAMMIT!" he shouted.

The girl flinched as if slapped. Keiichi stumbled toward the truck, aware that he had twisted his ankle in the fall but not even feeling the pain. By now several people had surrounded the wreck, but none were trying to help. Some were even taking pictures with their camera phones.

The truck was on its left side. Keiichi got a hand-hold on a piece of what was left of the grill and hoisted himself up, crying out in pain as he put too much weight on his ankle. Megumi climbed up next to him and helped him up. The sound of ambulance sirens were approaching from the distance.

He paused and looked around, suddenly remembering the obvious fact that trucks didn't just launch themselves into the air. The boy searched the crowd for Urd's face or Frigga's, but he didn't see them.

It didn't matter. Turning, he continued to climb up onto the truck.

888

Belldandy watched the scene, horrified. She had ordered the truck to stop, placed her power between it and her Keiichi... but... she didn't want _this_! Her hand went to her mouth.

"Shhhh," Hild cooed, hugging her. "It's okay. He's all right. See? He's perfectly fine."

"Wha... What about the driver?" she asked. "Is the driver okay?"

"It doesn't matter," Hild said.

"It _does_ matter!" Belldandy cried.

"He was going to kill your Keiichi," Hild reminded her.

"But he wasn't _trying_ to!" Belldandy countered.

"So it would be okay if he died if he meant to?" Hild asked.

"Yes! No! I mean..."

"He was going to hurt... quite possibly _kill_... Keiichi," Hild told her. "Would you prefer that?"

"NO!"

"Then a decision had to be made, and you made it," Hild told her with a smile.

"But... He..."

Hild took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "One of them was going to die," she said plainly, shaking the goddess enough to keep her attention. "In that kind of situation, it's unavoidable. What is the difference between Fate deciding which or you? Is his life worth more than Keiichi's?"

"No! I mean... it's not about more or less! Both deserved to live!"

"Both weren't going to survive," Hild told her. "One or the other, and you chose Keiichi. It's not about weighing who should die, it's having the _will_ _to act!_"

The queen hugged Belldandy, who looked over the woman's shoulder with haunted eyes.

"Now, then," Hild said softly. "I'll give you half an hour. Enough time to watch and make sure young Morisato is okay and get yourself cleaned up. Then we're going out. We have a lot to do."

Belldandy swallowed and nodded, staring off into space.

Hild smiled as she left the room.

888

Miranda scanned the temple's courtyard with the rifle's scope and released a breath. The valkyries were digging in. Something was up.

She saw the other goddesses and the mortal leave earlier that day, but no Peorth. The rampant could only assume she was inside somewhere. She could see their plan and wondered how stupid they had to be to think it would work. Lind's valkyries were well-trained, but she was willing to bet not a one of them was over eight hundred years or had even a tenth of the combat experience her people had.

Miranda was conflicted. On one hand, she felt she owed Peorth, not only for what she did to Wynn, but for trusting her and being willing to help her. On the other hand, this could also be her one best chance of getting them out without having to...

She didn't want to dwell on it. If she had to pay that price, she would. Until then, she had an op.

Her eye left the scope and she leaned back, putting a cigarette to her lips. What was Peorth worth?

"_I'm going to marry her," he said, holding the ring out. _

_Sitting across from him in the bunker, Miranda took the ring and examined it. "Nice," she told him. "When are you going to ask? Next leave?"_

_Lance Corporal Wynn smiled. "Oh, no," he said. "You know Fate's sense of irony. I'm not asking until the ink on a peace treaty is dry." He unstrapped his body armor and reached under it to a pocket in his shirt, pulling a small, golden disc. Tapping the side, a hologram of a young brunette with a long pony-tail appeared._

"_She's lovely," Miranda told him, lighting a cigarette. She offered the pack to him._

"_I've never had one of those before," he admitted._

"_Never too late to start a bad habit," she told him._

_Hesitantly, he took one and put it in his lips. She leaned over and snapped her fingers, lighting it._

_He took a drag and coughed. "That's... That's good," he lied._

_She shook her head and took another drag._

"_Colonel," he said quietly. "Can I ask you something?"_

"_Of course," she replied._

"_Well," he began, "I'm just having a hard time trying to figure out a way to tell her about all this, you know?" he said. "I mean... the things we've seen... the things we've done... Do you think... Do you think she'd understand?"_

_Miranda let out a breath. "Would you?"_

_He looked down at the ground. "No, I guess not. What do you tell your family?"_

"_I try to tell them about the beauty I've seen," she said. "The sun going down over a particular ocean, or the way a certain cluster of trees look on a rainy day. Everything but what I actually do."_

_He blinked._

"_What?" she asked._

"_It's just that... That's kind of poetic, Ma'am," he confessed. "Coming from you and all. I mean... you're pretty AURAF... It just sounds weird..."_

"_Trust me, Corporal," she said. "One day she... or The Almighty willing, your children are going to ask what you did in the war. It's a lot easier to look in their eyes and tell them about trees and sunsets than it is about a demon whose throat you cut or a friend who'll never fly again because the fuckers cut off their wings."_

She took a drag and noticed that during her trip down memory lane, the cigarette had burned all the way to her fingers. Tossing it aside, she stood up. The past was gone. It was time to get around to screwing up the future.

Gathering her things, she started to plan.

888

Hild looked up at the two story house and smiled. "This is the place!" she announced.

Walking behind her, dressed to blend in with the mortals living in Omaha, Nebraska, including a tan business skirt, jacket and glasses, Belldandy looked at the house and blinked. The house was quite nice, with Spanish architecture, a pristine yard with a few toys spread about hinting at the presence of children, and two SUVs in good condition sat in the driveway.

"Who lives here?" Belldandy asked.

"One Mr. Clark Johnson," Hild told her. "Forty-two years old, married, father of five, the youngest of which is only two. He's a marketing executive for a large insurance firm. Nice guy, goes to church every Sunday, gives to charity and even volunteers by helping acclimate Sudanese refugees who move into the city escaping that lovely little business in Darfur."

Hild turned to her. "Has he earned Heaven's Grace?" she asked.

Belldandy was taken aback. "No," she said. "He sounds quite nice, but I don't understand why he would be considered for a wish."

The arch-demoness smiled. "He doesn't _want_ a wish, he _needs_ a wish, and that is what separates what we do from what you used to do."

The goddess blinked.

"You see, Belldandy, Mr. Johnson has recently discovered something about himself, something he can't yet bring to tell even his wife."

"He's in some sort of trouble?" she asked. "Has he done something wrong?"

"He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer," Hild told her. "Three days ago. He'll be dead in six months, probably less."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Belldandy said sorrowfully.

"What will Heaven do for him?" Hild asked.

Again, the question threw Belldandy. "Nothing. I'm sorry that his time has come, but every mortal faces death." Her thoughts flew to Keiichi. Not long ago, her real mother was trying to tell her the same thing.

"It's not death that he fears," Hild told her. "Come."

She followed the demoness to the front door and watched as she knocked. After only a few moments, the door opened, revealing a pretty, middle-aged woman. "Yes?"

Hild smiled. "Good morning, Ma'am," she greeted politely. "We're looking for Mr. Clark Johnson. Is he at home?"

"Yes, one moment." The door shut and after another few moments it opened revealing a tall, balding man.

"Hello?" he said. "Do I know you?"

Hild smiled again. "Mr. Johnson, my name is Hild, and this is my daughter, Belldandy. We're here to make you an offer that I'm sure you'll find quite intriguing."

"I'm not looking to buy anything at the moment," he said distractedly, starting to shut the door. Hild put her foot in it, blocking it.

"It's about a piece of news you received three days ago," she went on.

The man looked over his shoulder before turning back to them. He sighed. "Let's talk outside."

888

Belldandy observed, and had to admit she was surprised. She was used to seeing Hild bully or cajole someone into obedience, but instead she watched as Hild walked silently next to Mr. Johnson as he bled to her.

"The doctors say I'm going to go through stages or something where I get angry and depressed and accept it," he was saying. "I... I don't want to shout at the sky and say it's not fair, you know, but it's not. I'm not afraid of dying, Miss... I was in Desert Storm, I've seen dying. It's just... I mean six months? My youngest is barely talking, and all I get with him is six months?"

Hild said nothing. She listened as they circled the house again.

"I think that, and I just... I can't take it, you know?" he asked. "I mean, how would you feel? Do you have kids?"

"I have two daughters," Hild told him. "One of whom I don't get to see much."

"So you kind of know what I mean," Johnson went on. "I... I just want to see him grow up, you know?"

Belldandy felt compelled to speak up. "You'll be able to watch over him from Heaven," she suggested. "You'll be able to see him. I can promise you that."

He turned to her. "See him? See him what? Stand over a tombstone, wishing he knew his daddy as anything other than a photograph?"

The bitterness in his voice made Belldandy step back a pace.

"I mean what about him? What about all of them? We have insurance, and Mary has a good job, but..." He shook his head. "Why now?" he finally finished.

It was time to get to business. They stopped at a set of patio furniture, and Hild sat down. "Mr. Johnson, what if I could make you a trade that extends your life?"

The man blinked, suddenly aware that he had just explained delicate medical issues about himself to two strange women. "Who are you with, anyway?" he asked. "The church?"

"Of a sort," Hild said with a smile. She pulled a set of papers out of her jacket pocket. "I'll be perfectly blunt with you, Mr. Johnson. In your religious outlook, I'm the devil."

He laughed. "Yeah, lady, sure you are."

Hild held her hands out about a foot apart. The man's eyes went wide as a stream of black lightning arced between them.

The demoness lowered her hands and gave him an expectant look. Johnson looked between the two of them frantically. "Jesus Christ," he whispered.

"No, he has no interest in helping you today," Hild told him. "I do."

He stood up and backed up a pace. "Je... Jesus Christ," he said again.

Hild turned to Belldandy. "This is common," she said quietly. "Remember, we're dealing with a negative reputation from the outset. The key is to wait for them to get over this momentary disbelief." She turned back to Johnson. "Mr. Johnson, I know this is quite a shock, but please hear me out."

"You're the fucking devil?" he asked. "So what? You're here to steal my soul?"

"I assure you," Hild said. "We're not here to steal anything. We're not going to hurt you. We're not going to bet a fiddle of gold against your soul."

Belldandy blinked. "A fiddle?"

Hild shut her eyes and rubbed her temples. "It's a long story, but it can be summed up with the words, 'fuck Georgia.'" She turned her attention back to Johnson. "Mr. Johnson, do you want to be at your youngest son's graduation or not?"

"Of.. Of course I do," he breathed.

"Do you want to dance at your daugther's wedding?"

"Yeah..."

"Do you want to grow old with your wife and look back on a long and happy life with her?"

"Of course."

Hild sat back and pulled a pen from her pocket. "Here is what I'm offering you," she said. "Your cancer, gone. I guarantee that you will live in excellent health until you are one hundred years old. After that it depends on how well you took care of yourself. The price, of course, is your soul that I collect after you die at a ripe old age."

He fell into his chair. "Then what?" he asked.

She shrugged. "It depends on what purpose you might be suited for."

"Like swimming in a lake of fire?" he asked.

She smiled. "Mr. Johnson, I know we get some bad press, and I admit, a lot of it is true. I enjoy tormenting the wicked. It makes me feel like I'm giving back to society. But you're not a wicked man. For you it would be the outer layer of Hell, I think. You wouldn't take joy in anything, but you'd have all your memories of your wife and children intact. I won't lie to you. It still sucks balls, but that's the choice you have now. Happiness now with your family or happiness later without them."

His hands went to the side of his head. Belldandy watched, fascinated and horrified. It was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

"This isn't going to be a Twilight Zone kind of ending where I sign this contract and my kids all die in a fire tomorrow, is it?" he asked.

Hild smiled again. "Mr. Johnson, I want your soul," she said truthfully. "If you sign this contract, I get it. I have neither the need or desire to torment you further. This is your choice. Under the contract, no one but you can be affected by it. Your wife and children need never know."

Belldandy silently begged the man to walk away, but he didn't. He licked his lips and nodded his head.

"Okay," he said quietly. "Okay. Where do I sign?"

"You're certain?" Hild asked. "No take-backs."

He looked up and nodded. "I want to see my son graduate. I want him to see me there. There's nothing more important to me than my kids. Not even my soul."

She pushed the contract to him. "Put your hand on the contract," she instructed. He did as he was told, but Hild paused. She looked toward Belldandy. "Belldandy, dear... You finalize this one."

The goddess went cold. "M... Mother?" she asked.

"Put your hand on his and finalize the contract."

"I... I can't do that," she said.

"Will excuse us for one moment?" she asked Johnson. Taking Belldandy by the elbow, she led the goddess a few steps away. "What's the problem?" she asked, her tone tinged with concern.

"You can't make me... I mean... You said you wouldn't make me do..." The goddess was near panicking.

"Belldandy," Hild whispered. "I'm doing this for you."

"For me?!"

"Yes," Hild whispered. "Part of your training is on how to conduct and close a deal. Normally you have to perform five of these and pass a test, but if I actually see you do it, I can just sign you off on it and you can cut almost _three weeks_ off your training."

Belldandy was brought up short. Three weeks? Three weeks closer to seeing Keiichi again?

_No! No! It's wrong! It's abhorrent!_

Hild looked over her shoulder at Johnson and then back to Belldandy. "Belldandy, dear, listen to me. The deal is practically done. I just need you to finalize it. It's going to happen anyway. Everyone here wins. Mr. Johnson gets his life with his loving family at his side. You get to see Keiichi three weeks sooner."

"You're taking his soul," she argued weakly.

"I'm _trading_ his soul for something he values just as much, a life with his family," Hild corrected her. "Will Heaven give him that? Will Freya send one of her goddesses down here to offer him Heaven's Grace? Is there _anyone_ but you and I who are willing to offer this man more than just empty platitudes and false words of comfort?"

Belldandy shivered, frightened by how much sense she thought Hild made.

"Remember what I said earlier?" Hild told her. "All that's left is the will to act. Three weeks, Belldandy. Three weeks closer to seeing him again. And if you don't, I'm just going to finalize the deal myself anyway. Where is the harm?"

The goddess said nothing, desperately searching for an argument she could use.

"This is who we are," Hild said. "This is what we do."

She took Belldandy's hand. "Come," she said quietly. Stunned, Belldandy followed, barely aware of what she was doing.

The arch demon pulled her back to the table, and before Belldandy realized it, she had placed her hand on Mr. Johnson's.

The papers beneath their hands flashed with a dark red glow, and the sigil on Belldandy's forehead shined as the power of the contract between the two flowed through her, arcing into the sky and splitting the clouds overhead.

A moment later it was over. Belldandy collapsed into her chair.

Hild smiled and offered her hand to Johnson. "Mr. Johnson, the contract is complete. The cancer is already receding. By tomorrow morning it will be as if it was never there."

"Will she be okay?" he asked, gesturing to Belldandy.

"You were her first," she explained. "My advice to you now is to live every moment and cherish it. And I will see you in about sixty to seventy years."

The man swallowed nervously. "Yeah... Yeah..."

Hild helped Belldandy to her feet and guided her toward the front gate. "You did so well, my little Belldandy," she said proudly. "Not even in Hell a week and you already have a contract under your belt..."

"I'm going to be sick," Belldandy said, covering her mouth.

The goddess fell to her knees and threw up behind a bush. Hild held her hair and patted her back gently.

"I... I can't believe I did that," Belldandy sobbed.

"You can't believe what?" Hild asked. "That you were willing to help that man when no one else would? That you were willing to make a choice to give a family back their husband and father?" She smiled knowingly. "I think that sounds like exactly you."

"And his soul..."

"Yes, Belldandy, _his_ soul," Hild reminded her. "It was his to trade, and he traded it, and he got exactly what he wanted for it."

Belldandy stared down at the pool of vomit on the ground below her, digesting Hild's words.

"Who owns who you are, Belldandy?" Hild asked. "The Almighty? Or you? Not even I would claim to own your soul. Your body, yes. Your loyalty and fealty, yes. But never your soul. I wish to save it, not own it."

She helped Belldandy to her feet and dusted her off. "My Belldandy," she said. "This is a milestone day for you. We should celebrate. Come, there's a wonderful French restaurant in the Old Market. Wonderful food..."

In a trance-like state, Belldandy followed.

888

Metheus was walking down the hall when the page stopped him in his tracks.

He looked down at his PDA. There was a message that said, "Call me." Checking the number, he dialed it.

"Lord Metheus?"

"Tabitha?" he rasped. "What is it?"

The young demon girl's voice had an edge of urgency in it. "My Lord, you know how you ordered me to keep an eye on Yggdrasil's comms for any mention of a certain goddess? Well... I found one in the morning dispatches."

"Go on," he urged quietly.

"My Lord, it's a termination warrant."

He took a breath. "What?" he hissed.

Tabitha nodded even though he couldn't see her. "She's been found rampant and sentenced to die. Execution to be carried out in less than five hours."

Metheus squeezed the phone so hard he thought he could hear the case cracking.

"My Lord?"

He growled. The cowards. They were going to kill Peorth to get to him.

"My Lord?"

"Tabitha," he bit out. "I want you to contact every recovery agent you can get your hands on and order them to meet me in the briefing room in full battle-rattle in thirty minutes."

"Yes, My Lord."

He closed the phone and started for Carestia's place at a run. When he arrived, he knocked on the door and waited. It only took a moment for the former valkyrie to open it.

"My Lord," she said with a smile.

He got straight to business. "We're going to kill some gods," he said. "You want to come?"

Her smile intensified. "Our first date," she gasped. "I'll get my dancing shoes!"

888

"Gaeriel, listen to me," Peorth tried for what must have been the hundredth time. "You don't know what you're dealing with. This plan is not going to work."

The valkyrie was making her quarter-hourly check of the fortifications. Nothing was getting into the temple. Nothing.

888

"Modified snatch-and-grab," Metheus told the assembled demons and rampants. In front of the group, Carestia and Krieg, in full gear, checked their weapons. "Target is tier-one personality, goddess first class, commercial license." A holo of Peorth appeared in his hand. "Under no circumstances whatsoever is she to be harmed."

The demons, recovery agents trained to engage and detain traitors, eagerly checked their equipment. They almost never got a chance to fight gods...

"Valkyrie presence in the area is high," Metheus went on. "Aeriel insertion."

"Rules of engagement, My Lord?" one demon asked.

"The target is not to be harmed," he repeated. "You are clear to engage all other targets..."

888

"If he shows his face around here, we're going to put a sword through it," Gaeriel assured her. "He'll come alone. There's no way Hild is going to put her regular troops in this."

"And why not?" Peorth asked.

"Because no matter who dies, she loses demons. Doublet's still in play. She's not going to risk a war just for you..."

888

"Anyone with a weapon," Metheus continued. "Anyone who resists... Anyone who opens their eyes at you..."

Carestia smiled like a girl about to go to the candy store.

"Time from insertion to exfil no more than thirty minutes," he said, the rage in his voice rising.

"What about Doublet?" another demon asked.

He paused. Hild was _not_ going to like this. Then again... she had all but given him carte blanche...

"Fuck Doublet," he said.

888

"Gaeriel, these are not rational people you are talking about!" Peorth begged her. "They're not going to play by your little rules of engagement! If he comes, he's coming for blood!"

The valkyrie was done talking. "You just sit there and be a good little worm on the hook, all right?" she said. "If this works out, I might even ask Lind to cut you a little slack at your own trial."

888

The rampants and demons assembled in the hardline nexus and chambered their weapons. Metheus worked the action of his Gravedigger carbine and waited. Even as they stood there, a crow was flying over the temple with a portable hardline beacon in its talons. As soon as it was directly overhead, they'd go through.

The light overhead beat a steady red. When it turned green, they'd go.

He took a deep breath.

_I'm coming, Peorth. I'm coming..._

As he thought this, the comm jewel in his earpiece came to life. "Inquisitor, this is Hild. I'm here on Earth, and I'm hearing some rather... interesting things... about an operation I haven't authorized..."

He tapped his mic so everyone on his team could hear. "Yes, Your Majesty, and may I say it's a wonderful plan! I stand in awe of your greatness. I am honored to be a part of your will."

The other demons looked to one another and smiled.

"My plan?" Hild asked, only his receiver picking it up. "Metheus, am I going to want to hang you when I get back?"

"I agree, Majesty, the valkyries have had their way for too long. Now is the time to strike."

"Metheus!"

"For the glory of the Dark Lady!" he shouted.

"FOR HILD!" the rest of the team cried in response.

The light turned green.

"You are making _such_ a mistake!" Hild's voice growled at him.

"GO! GO! GO!"

As one, the group rushed into the glowing crystal at the front of the room. A moment later, Metheus was in free fall as he and his team fell from the crystal in the crow's claws. As one, the group of sixteen demons and three rampants extended their wings and rolled out toward the temple below.


	15. Blood on Blood

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

Foreword: So the era of daily updates is over. I'm still updating as I complete two future chapters, so I'm going to shoot for once a week.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 15**_

_**Blood on Blood**_

* * *

**"You remember John Tunstall? Remember the stories he'd tell us about the three Chinamen playing fan tan? Someone runs up to them and says, 'Hey, the world is coming to an end!' And the first one says, 'Well, I best go to the mission and pray.' And the second one says, 'Well hell, I'm going to buy a case of mesquale and six whores.' And the third one says, 'Well I shall finish the game.' I shall finish the game, Doc."**

_Billy the Kid_

_Young Guns II_

* * *

Hild closed her cell phone and growled low in her throat.

"Young people," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Is something wrong?"

The arch demoness looked up at her adopted daughter, sitting across from her at the table, and smiled. "Love, Belldandy," she sighed. "Has there ever been anything that made people more stupid?"

The goddess looked down at her plate. "It's pure," she said. "And good."

"Let me ask you a what-if question," Hild said. "Say one of your children was about to storm into danger, guns blazing, to save the love of his life from a fate worse than death without seeking your counsel or permission... What would you do?"

Belldandy blinked. "I might not agree," she said. "But I can understand. The things one will do for the one they love are limitless."

Hild sat back in her chair and swirled a glass of wine around in her hand. "I suppose we'll just have to see how this plays out. As it is, we'll have to cut this short."

888

Metheus heard the wind whipping in his ears as he floated toward the temple below. So far, they hadn't been detected, but it wouldn't last... However, they might be able to make it last a little longer.

He caught sight of two valkyrie sentries standing on the roof of the temple and clicked his mic. "Carestia, two on the roof. Quietly."

"Roger," he heard her accent float through his earpiece. "Right one first..."

He watched as the sentries got closer and closer. One of them, on the left, turned away from his friend, missing the silver arrow that flew down and caught his friend in the eye. He must have heard the body hit the ground, because he turned back and saw it. Raising his comm bracelet, he missed the second arrow as it buried itself in his chest, knocking him backward.

"Roof clear," he heard Carestia report.

They floated closer, their wings catching the wind allowing them to silently descend.

"One hundred feet," Krieg reported.

He could make out shadows in the windows now.

"Fifty feet..."

Metheus gripped his carbine and raised it to a ready position, flicking the safety off with his thumb.

"Ten feet... five feet... down!"

The rampant folded his wings back into his body and brought the carbine up, ready to fire as he hurried up onto the front deck. He heard the pulse of plasmatic rounds going off as one of his demons fired on a valkyrie standing watch in a nearby tree.

"Stack up!" he hissed. Krieg stepped in front, Carestia behind and a recovery agent behind her. As a single unit, they moved toward the door.

Krieg touched the door handle, and the piece of brass began to glow. He tapped Metheus, who tapped Carestia. When Carestia tapped back, he tapped Krieg.

"Breach!"

The door exploded outward, and with it came a hail of energy blasts. The three rampants and demons ducked down.

"Well, aren't they dug in?" Carestia quipped.

"Blackouts!" Metheus ordered,

Carestia and demon pulled their relativity grenades, a weapon that would stop the flow of light and essentially blind anyone in range, even using binocs or night vision. Krieg primed his and tossed it inside, with Metheus readying the others as they were passed up.

Krieg threw the last one in, and they heard them go off.

"Angels!" Metheus commanded.

"Come forth!" Krieg and Carestia ordered.

With a flash of light, Blitz Krieg, Black Jack and Deviant Shiloh emerged and flew through the wall behind them into the kitchen.

For a moment there was no sound.

Then the sound of several weapons going off was followed by blood-curdling screams and unholy howls made by the angels themselves in their bloodlust.

"Go get some," Carestia whispered with a grin.

One of the valkyries was thrown through the wall over their heads, landing on the ground nearby. Black Jack followed a moment later, grabbing the god's leg and dragging him back inside with a withering hiss.

The firing stopped.

"Go!"

They rushed inside, Krieg going left and Metheus going right in a button-hook maneuver. The walls were covered in blood, and several valkyries lay on the floor below them, though some looked only asleep, having called their angels to protect them and only exposing them to slaughter.

"Clear left!"

"Clear right!" Metheus replied. The firing outside was increasing. Valkyries watching the far side of the house were rallying. "Let's move!"

888

Peorth had woken to the sound of weapons fire, but all she could do was sit in her tiny prison and watch the door, waiting for them to come through.

For all of Gaeriel's bravado, she knew that if Miranda was right about what she taught them, the valkyries guarding the house were outclassed. They had gone fishing for guppies, but a shark was coming for this worm on the hook.

She heard footfalls and looked up as a rampant entered her room.

888

Metheus passed Krieg in the hallway as the mammoth god kicked in another door and tossed a blackout inside. The valkyries had dug in well, but obviously weren't expecting such a large force to attack. The demons were mowing through them one room at a time.

Carestia took a door on the right and paused. She looked at him and gave the hand signal that she heard movement. Metheus nodded and raised the carbine while Carestia drew her falchion. The demoness listened carefully through the paper wall and found it. Raising the blade, she plunged the sword through the wall and found purchase on the other side.

"Shhhhh," she cooed, caressing the paper with a gloved hand as blood began to spot on it. "Everything's going to be okay now..."

Content that Carestia had it under control, Metheus pushed on, stopping at the door to Peorth's room. Reaching up to the handle, he opened it...

And his carbine shot up a moment later as a familiar face greeted him on the other side.

Miranda, a Mjolnir repeating carbine in the ready position, stood there.

Peorth, locked in a crystalline prison, watched the stand-off from behind the ex-valkyrie officer.

The two rampants stared at one another over their weapons for several moments.

"Colonel," he greeted.

"Corporal," she replied, neither one of them lowering their weapons by so much as an inch or diverting their eyes the slightest bit. "Long time."

"Yeah," he replied. "How've you been?"

"Not bad," she said. "You?"

"Been better. So... Still working for the valkyries?"

She didn't shake her head or move her eyes... "Freelance work," she said. "So... Stand-off, huh?"

"Yeah," he replied, his weapon not budging an inch from its bead on the woman's forehead. "How about a compromise? You lower the weapon, and I take Peorth."

"That's what I liked about you, Wynn," Miranda said. "You're always the first one with a suggestion for a tactical problem."

"Thank you," he replied.

"You're welcome."

Silence.

"Okay, seriously, though," Metheus said. "Get the fuck out of the way."

"What's going on?" Carestia hissed from nearby. She didn't know who Metheus was talking to, but she saw his weapon raised and knew he might need help.

"Nothing," Metheus told her, his eyes not moving a millimeter. "Take Krieg and help the others mop up. I'll be along in a minute. Watch our exit."

Carestia paused, but finally nodded. A combat situation wasn't the time or place to play around. She tapped Krieg and started for the door, toward what remained of the battle outside.

"So," he said. "Lower the weapon, get out of the way, and let me take what's mine."

"I have a counter offer for you," Miranda said, still refusing to lower her weapon or take her eye off him, knowing the moment she did she was dead. "You get Elra and Basken, we slip out the back and make our way to a hardline down the street, and we all exfil together."

"Right into a prison ward in Heaven," Metheus concluded. "Pass."

"To a realm on the bare edge of Creation," Miranda told him. "The caregiver there is a friend of mine. He's agreed to let the three of you hide there..."

"Oh!" Metheus remarked. "Wonderful. We really get to hide in the jungle like fucking lizards for the rest of our lives? Is it my birthday?"

"It beats lapping up the scraps from Hild's table," Miranda told him.

"Not by enough to make it worth it," Metheus responded. "In about two minutes, my demons are going to be done mopping this place up. Then they're going to come in here, and this little stand-off is going to end. So you have a choice to make: Get out of my way or wait for them to drop you."

"You are not taking this goddess to Hell with you," Miranda hissed. "No more! Do you hear me?! We've lost enough to that place! No more!"

"Don't give me that tone like you're any better than the rest of us!" Metheus hissed back. "I've read the reports. You're just like us, Colonel! AURAF! Ate Up, Rampant As Fuck!"

"I didn't come here to kill you, Corporal, I came here to save your ass!" Miranda argued. "How long do you think you can keep up this little game, huh?! Eventually, Heaven is going to be pushed enough to think maybe killing the three of you is worth a few dead gods served up to Doublet!"

"STOP IT! I'll go!"

Silence.

Miranda didn't dare turn away from her ex-subordinate, but she really wanted to see Peorth's face right then, to try to divine what kind of madness was in the love goddess's eyes.

"Peorth?" she asked instead.

"I said I'll go," Peorth replied. "He's right. You don't have much time. And even if you did, you can bet Gaeriel called for help. More people are going to die if this stand-off goes on much longer."

Miranda's eyes didn't leave Metheus's. "You're sure?" she asked.

Peorth swallowed. "Oui." She turned to Metheus. "If you promise to let Miranda go and leave."

"Agreed," Metheus said.

Slowly, the two warriors lowered their weapons. Metheus gestured to the prison. "You get her out of that." He tapped his mic. "Carestia, sitrep."

"We've got contacts coming in from the east," she replied. "Looks like reinforcements. Are we done here, boss?"

"We're done," he said. "Start getting our people through the hardline."

"Roger."

Meanwhile, Miranda was working on the ward powering the prison. "You're sure about this?" she whispered.

Peorth knelt next to her and nodded. "I can't do any good locked in here or in a seal somewhere, but if I go with him, I might be able to help, maybe find Belldandy, maybe... Maybe even turn him back."

"You're taking a big risk," Miranda warned.

"So did you," Peorth told her. "Merci." She took a breath. "Find Urd. Tell her everything that happened here, everything we've talked about. I think she can help a lot better than anyone else right now."

"All right."

The prison collapsed.

Metheus's carbine came back up, tracking Miranda, but not firing. He reached out with his supporting hand and beckoned for Peorth. "Come on," he whispered. "Come on."

Peorth gave a last glance to Miranda and stepped forward, taking Metheus's hand. He backed away from the other rampant slowly, tapping his mic. "This is Devil Lead, we're rolling."

"Roger, Devil Lead, you have the last train out of town," one of the demons replied.

Miranda stood there, unmoving, watching as they walked out. Metheus gave her a last, respectful nod. "Nice seeing you again, Colonel," he said.

"We'll meet again," she promised. "Don't forget my offer."

They turned the corner and disappeared. Miranda looked up at the ceiling and cursed.

888

"Wynn..."

"Shh!" he cut her off. "We're not out of this yet." The rampant crept forward, his carbine up with Peorth following close behind. They turned into the living room, and Metheus stopped.

Creeping forward, his weapon tracked on something on the ground. At first Peorth couldn't see what it was, then, peeping over his shoulder, she gasped.

"Gaeriel?!"

The valkyrie was lying on her back on the floor, her hand covering a wound in her right shoulder and her saber nearly three feet away.

"Well, well," Metheus rasped. "Perhaps it is my birthday..."

Gaeriel looked up at them with hate-filled eyes. Keeping his carbine on her, he knelt down and reached out, taking her sidearm.

"Jack," he prompted. The monstrosity from within him sprung from his back and hissed. Gaeriel's eyes went wide at the sight of it.

"Wynn, let her go," Peorth said.

"This bitch has tried to kill me twice now," he replied. "I'm not leaving her at my back again." Black Jack hissed his agreement.

Peorth licked her lips and thought frantically. She was no valkyrie, she didn't know what argument would work from that perspective...

But she _was_ a love goddess...

"Wynn," she whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder and trailing it up to his neck so he could feel it. "Leave her. You've beaten her."

He wavered.

"Show me you're still the man I knew," she urged quietly. "The Wynn I knew didn't kill valkyries lying helpless on the floor."

Gaeriel glared up at them both, but didn't say a word that might break whatever spell Peorth was casting on him.

His finger loosened on the trigger. "Let's go," he muttered.

The valkyrie watched them flee the room.

888

He didn't have to wait long after emerging from the hardline for Hild to find him.

"Inquisitor," he heard in his earpiece. "I'd like to speak with you in the throne room."

Metheus took a breath. "Yes, Your Majesty," he replied. He turned to two of his recovery agents. "Take her to my quarters, keep her there."

Peorth saw the two demons finger their weapons. Another came up to her and affixed a wide-range limiter to her ear, making it almost impossible for her to use her powers.

"Wynn," she said, turning to him.

"You won't be harmed," he assured her. "Go with them."

He watched as she was led away, looking over her shoulder at him.

"So," Carestia said, sidling up to him. "Does this mean we get to kill people when _I_ want a piece of ass?"

He walked off without a word to her.

"I'm just curious!" she called after him. She turned and saw Krieg looking at her. "What?" she asked.

888

"I must say," Hild said from her throne as she casually waved her hand and flung Metheus across the room into a marble pillar, striking it with a sickening crunch. "I'm rather disappointed. I thought we had a good working relationship between the two of us..."

She flicked her wrist, and the rampant skidded along the ground, his face grinding into the rough stone floor until he hit the far wall.

"And yet, the first time I go off-realm with my daughter for a little mother-daughter bonding, my High Inquisitor, who, by the way, is supposed to be in charge of keeping people from disobeying me... commandeers a strike team..." She flicked her wrist, sending him across the room again. "... goes to Earth..." Another flick, this time sending him into the ceiling. "... and conducts an attack against a force of valkyries, killing several... which, by the way, killed an equal number of my demons..." She snapped her fingers, and Metheus crashed to the floor before her, bruised, bloody and broken.

She rose from her throne and looked down at him. Metheus looked up with his good eye and concentrated on breathing.

_Ignore the pain,_ he thought. _Disconnect it. It doesn't exist._

Hild stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in thought, trying to find a good way to explain her feelings of dissatisfaction. "I feel... like a young girl who, after putting a tooth under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy, has awoken to find that a burglar has snuck in through my window and taken it. And instead of waking up to find a shiny quarter there... I find nothing but disappointment... Do you understand?"

He blinked and said nothing.

"Do you understand the concept of the Tooth Fairy?" she asked. "You leave a tooth, she gives you a quarter! That's all you need to know!" She turned away in disgust.

She placed her hands on her hips as she tried to decide what to do now. "Have you anything to say for yourself?" she asked.

Metheus rolled onto his back and continued to breathe.

"Well, I am in something of a pickle, aren't I?" she asked. "I do need you. And, I did promise you Peorth, who you now have, so killing you for taking what I promised you anyway would make me something of a hypocrite, wouldn't it?"

"They were going to kill her," he croaked. "There wasn't time."

She arched an eyebrow. "You actually fell for that?" She sighed. "My how love does blind us..." The demoness knelt next to him. "Look at me, Metheus."

The Inquisitor managed to raise his head enough to meet her gaze.

She smiled. "I understand you think you're something special. To an extent, you're right. And killing you would be a waste of material. So let me break it down in terms you can understand. If you ever... _ever_... end run around me again, I will have your pretty young Peorth sent down to the Brau Daemons to be raped, tortured and killed. Is that concept clear?"

"As a bell, Your Majesty."

"Glorious!" She stood up and returned to her throne. "Very well, I'll think up a suitable punishment for you later. You may go."

Painfully, Metheus rolled onto this chest and pushed, slowly rising to his feet. He had a long walk back to his quarters.

888

_Well, Peorth, you've certainly screwed yourself this time..._

That was all she could think as she paced back and forth inside Metheus's quarters, her heart pounding. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Come to Hell, turn Metheus back into Wynn, save Belldandy, and they all coast to freedom! No problem! Jeu d'enfant!

Of course, actually standing in Hell with her powers dampened and everyone in Heaven who counts thinking she was a traitor, it didn't seem so easy.

She tried to think of an actual plan. Metheus would be coming back soon. When he did... well... who knows how far gone he was?

Pacing back and forth, she racked her brain. Belldandy! She had to find Belldandy! At the very least they'd be together, could find a way out of this together!

She heard the door opening and whirled around, her heart beating faster.

Metheus's form filled the doorway, the rampant god still in full combat gear. He took two steps toward her...

And fell to the ground.

Flabbergasted, she took a few tentative steps toward him, her panicked mind wondering if this was some kind of absurd trap, but as she got closer to him, she saw the new wounds on his face and arms, wounds he didn't have when they stepped through the hardline.

"Wynn?" she whispered, kneeling next to him. She put her arms under him and strained as she fought against the weight of his armor to roll him onto his back. Running her eyes over him, they locked onto the carbine still connected by a lanyard to the front of his armor.

If she grabbed that, she could...

She bit her lip. _Do absolutely nothing of value_, she thought. Instead, she reached down and unclasped the armor, pulling it open. As she did this, his hand shot up and snagged her wrist.

Her heart skipped a beat in panic, and she watched his eye open and find her.

He groaned a bit. "Hey, Fleur," he muttered. "Getting settled in okay?"

"What happened to you?!" she asked, mystified by his condition.

Metheus swallowed. "Her Majesty took issue with the way I went about retrieving you," he said weakly. "I suppose it's my fault... not telling her and all..."

Several different emotions hit Peorth at once. Concern that Hild had punished him, optimism that Lucky Jack appeared to be right when he said Wynn might turn on the Dark Lady, and touched that he had been willing to risk Hild's wrath to save her.

She shook her head. The love goddess couldn't fall into that trap. Yes, he had come riding to her rescue on a white horse like in some romance novel... and had butchered who knows how many valkyries doing it.

"Here, let me help you," she said, pulling him up into a sitting position and starting to remove his equipment.

He winced as she pulled the armor off him, and she decided there was no time like the present. "Wynn, how is Belldandy? Where is she?"

"Hild has claimed her as her daughter," Metheus told her as Peorth went to the bath. She re-emerged a moment later with a wet towel, which she used to dab at his wounded face. "I don't think she realizes exactly what Hild means to do."

"Which is?" Peorth asked.

He regarded her carefully. "Why did you come with me, Peorth?" he asked.

She paused as fear gripped her. Could he really have figured her out so quickly?

Of course he could have. No man in Creation had ever known her better.

"To save lives," she answered honestly, continuing to wipe his face. "Can I see Belldandy?"

"No," he told her firmly. "Hild wants her educated. Seeing you would undermine that. She probably won't even be made aware you're here."

"Then what about me?" she asked irritably. "What am I supposed to be? House entertainment? Stay here in your room all day? Will you chain me to the radiator before you leave in the morning?"

He grabbed her wrist again. "You know I couldn't do that to you," he whispered. "They were going to kill you."

"They set a trap for you and used me as bait," she corrected him.

"Well, it wasn't a very good trap then, was it?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice. "What was I supposed to do? Risk it? Leave you there? You're pissed because I killed a few valks, well think about the number I would have killed if they really _had_ killed you!"

"Is that supposed to make me say, 'How sweet!'?" she asked. "Should I call you my hero and twitter like a vacuous little school girl?!"

He straightened and gritted his teeth. "Nothing is ever good enough for you, is it?" he asked. "Still just like your mother."

Peorth reflexively tried to slap him, but her wrist was still in the steel grip of his hand. Fighting against it, she brought her other hand up, only for that one to be caught as well. She glared angrily into his eyes and felt her heart thudding in her chest. In a sudden move, he leaned in and kissed her fiercely, and, instinctively, she kissed back, whimpering at what she knew was the exact wrong thing to do.

They parted, and he released her hands, reaching up running his dirty fingers through her hair.

"So," she said, wiping tears away. "What _will_ you do with me?" she asked.

He wiped her tears away with his thumb as he thought. "Surely, there's _some_ work a love goddess can find in Hell?"

888

Dawn was only an hour away, and a faint orange light could be seen growing brighter in the east. This dim light only made the bodies she was studying look more... dead.

They had been lined up in the courtyard to be transported back through the hardline to Heaven, but Lind wanted to see them. She owed it to them to memorize their faces. So she did, walking up and down the line with Gwydion and Gaeriel, her arm in a sling, walking just behind her.

"I've seen this kind of work before," Lind told them, not facing them. "Valhalla, Camelot, Jerusalem..." She stopped. "The difference is these are _my_ people," she hissed, just the first hint of anger shining through. She turned to them. "What happened here, Lieutenant?"

Put on the spot, Gaeriel took a breath while Gwydion eyed her cautiously. He had always taught her failure, in itself, was not blameworthy, only the failure to own up to it.

And this _was_ her fault.

"I take full responsibility, Ma'am," she said. "I assumed Hild would not want an obvious violation of the treaty and wouldn't send a large force. I assumed that the rampant would try some kind of trickery or try to sneak Peorth out. The attack we got was... unexpected."

Lind nodded. Original reports suggested the valkyries had been outnumbered two to one, forced to try to defend a position made out of paper and wood.

"Commander!"

She turned and found one of her trackers coming up to her. "What did you find, Pahana?" she asked.

"There were nineteen of them," he said. "But they weren't equipped like Hellriders."

"Elites?"

"No, Ma'am," Pahana told her. "As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet they weren't regular military at all."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Their tactics, the way they breached the house, suggests something closer to a law enforcement mentality," Pahana told her.

"The Inquisition," Gwydion whispered. Lind nodded.

"Ma'am, there's something else," Pahana continued. At her gesture, he went on. "One person, a female, wearing old-style standard Division issue combat boots. She came down from the north, entered the temple through the back, and left the same way. I can't find her tracks anywhere where there was fighting going on, and none of the bodies we found are wearing those boots."

Lind turned thoughtful.

"Commander," Gaeriel began. "I'd like permission to be part of the investigation and try to bring the rampants to justice."

Lind gave her a glance. "Colonel," she said, prompting Gwydion to take over.

Gwydion took the young lieutenant aside and began what Lind was sure was a difficult conversation. She turned her thoughts back to Pahana's findings.

As if sent to solve that particular riddle, another valkyrie approached her and saluted, something clutched in her left hand.

"Ma'am," she twittered. "We checked out where the prisoner was kept. We found this inside." She held out a piece of cloth, and Lind took it. "It's a unit insignia of some kind, but I've not seen it before."

By this time, having sent Gaeriel off to assist the healers, Gwydion returned to Lind's side.

"No," Lind sighed. "You wouldn't. You're too young." She held up the insignia, a hammer crossed with a lightning bolt over a gilded gate. "It's from a unit that was all but wiped out early in the last war and deactivated; the 7th Special Operations Squadron, Thor's Hammers."

"Helljumpers," the valkyrie gasped.

Lind turned to Gwydion. "Anyone care to take a guess as to who the executive officer of the Seventh was before they were stood down?"

"Colonel Miranda," Gwydion muttered.

"Miranda," Lind confirmed.

"Ma'am," the valkyrie began again, blinking in confusion. "I don't get it. Why would she leave it there like that?"

Lind studied the insignia and shook her head. "Maybe she's just saying hello, Sergeant," she sighed. "Just saying hello."


	16. I'll Be There For You

Disclaimer: AMG isn't mine.

Foreword: Another project has reared its head, so updates for this fic are going to be a little slow for the next few weeks.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 16**_

_**I'll Be There For You**_

* * *

**"Listen close to everybody's heart and hear that breaking sound,**

**Hopes and dreams are shattering apart and crashing to the ground,**

**I cannot believe my eyes!**

**How the world's filled with filth and lies!**

**But it's plain to see evil inside of me,**

**Is on the rise..."**

_Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris)_

_Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog_

* * *

The suite at the Nekomi Hyatt Hotel was spacious, with three bedrooms and a common area that included a small kitchen. Even as Gaeriel was preparing for Metheus's arrival, the remaining goddesses and Nyd had settled in, preparing to wait for a call saying they could return to the temple.

Urd looked out the window overlooking downtown Nekomi and bit her lip. She could feel an ill wind blowing and hoped that Peorth would be okay. She was certain she would be: Being surrounded by valkyries was probably the safest place for any goddess right now.

Frigga entered the common area from the bedroom where she had tucked Skuld in. "Are you sure Mr. Morisato didn't want a room?" she asked.

The Norn turned, frowning as she did so. "Keiichi's been... weird... lately. To be honest, I don't think he wants to see us right now."

"I see," Frigga said sadly. At that moment, Nyd entered, holotop in hand.

"Ladies," he said with a smile. He sat down at the small desk the hotel had provided and opened the computer.

Urd stood nearby and cleared her throat expectantly. After a moment, she cleared it again.

Nyd turned to her and blinked. "Um... Are you okay?"

The Norn arched a disapproving eyebrow at him, and the healer suddenly realized he had done something wrong... he just didn't know what.

As it turned out, he was saved by a ringing phone. Urd reached over and picked it up. "Hello," she said. "Megumi? Keiichi is rooming wit... Nyd?" She turned to the healer and arched an eyebrow. "Yeah," she said suspiciously. "One second." She held the phone out to the healer. "It's for you," she said. "It's Megumi."

He blinked. "M... Megumi?" Taking the phone, he untangled the cord and placed the receiver to his ear. "Hello? Hi, Megumi," he said, throwing a cautious look to Urd, who folded her arms over her chest as she watched the one-sided conversation.

"Oh?" Nyd continued. A look of understanding crossed his face. "I see," he said. He held a hand over the mouthpiece and turned to the goddesses. "I'm really sorry," he said. "I'm... um... going to need some privacy with this... Do you think you could..."

"Leave the two of you alone?" Urd finished for him, her eye twitching ever so slightly.

Instead of being cowed, Nyd persisted. "Yeah, I'm really sorry..."

"It's no problem, son," Frigga said with a smile. Ever since his trip to Hell, Nyd's stock had gone up even more in the queen's eyes. At this point, the boy could do no wrong. "Come along, Urd. We'll go down to the hotel pub for a whiskey sour and a root beer float with whip cream and a cherry!"

"Who gets the booze?" Urd asked.

"Tut tut, Urd," Frigga said. "Hierarchy. The one closest to God." She paused and relented. "If I buy you a drink, you have to promise not to tell the other girls."

As the door closed behind them, Frigga led the way to the elevator. "Now that you and I have some alone time, Urd, I'd like to talk with you."

Urd sighed.

"I'm sorry, hon," Frigga began as the elevator doors closed and started to take them down to the lobby. "With everything going on with your sister, I haven't had a moment to ask you. But how are things between you and Nyd? The other night, I got the feeling things had... progressed."

Urd wondered how much to tell her, partly out of spite and partly out of a desire to avoid having to watch the godly matron do a victory lap around the hotel parking lot. She cleared her throat. "Things have progressed," she confirmed, being deliberately vague.

Frigga eyed her carefully. "Hence the withering, jealous looks directed at him just before we left?" she asked.

The Norn took a breath. "I'm not jealous. After all... Megumi is no match for me..."

"Ah, so Nyd is in play?"

"No, he's not," Urd countered.

"The game is over then? Did you win?"

"Yes, I... I mean..."

Frigga smiled knowingly. "I see... Am I to assume then that you have already... consummated... your fledgling relationship?"

Urd rubbed her temples and decided to attack. "If by that you're asking if I've slept with him, then yes, Frigga, I have."

She expected the older woman to be mortified, to fan herself and make shocked comments. Instead, she smiled. "Did you have sex or make love?"

"Do I really have to have this conversation with my stepmother?"

"I just want to know if..."

"If I'm using the word 'love?'" Urd asked as the doors opened. She paused. She _had_ used that term... "Damn..." she muttered.

"Just, take some advice, Urd," Frigga said. "Don't tell Eir. She won't take it well." She started for the bar. Urd followed, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Frigga, that's the second time you've implied that Nyd's mother doesn't approve of me," she said. "What's the deal?"

The elder goddess took a seat at the bar and ordered a whiskey sour before turning to her stepdaughter. "Do you remember how Nyd knew about that loophole in the Armistice?"

Urd nodded.

"That's because Eir wrote it," Frigga told her. "A thousand years ago, back when she held the position Nyd currently holds. When she added it, she said it was because, 'demons couldn't be trusted not to eat their young.'"

"She disapproves of my... heritage," Urd concluded knowingly. It was an old lament, one she had had to deal with all her life.

"Eir saw first-hand the kind of cruelties Hild's demons were capable of," Frigga went on. "It was she who was placed in charge of patching valkyries back together after battles. It embittered her."

Urd shook her head in disbelief. "Well... then I don't get it," she said. "If she disapproves so much, why is she going along with this Pairing to begin with?"

Frigga looked away guiltily and bit her lip. She wasn't sure she wanted to tell her stepdaughter the truth, but knew if she started lying now, Urd wouldn't be able to trust her on the matter ever again. She turned back to her.

"I wanted you to be paired with a god who would care for you," she said, both informing her daughter of an obvious fact and defending herself with it at the same time. "Of all the gods in the families that still practice the Pairing, Nyd was by far the best choice. And I _wanted_ the best for you." She trailed off, the guilty look returning. "I also knew Eir would be... less than inclined..." Straightening again she continued. "When I approached her, I told her that I wanted to Pair my daughter with a good man, and would she consider allowing our households to be joined." She broke off and took a drink, allowing Urd to work through the implications herself.

And she did. It was well known that Urd never considered herself an official part of the household, even though Frigga did, so there was no reason for Eir to think she was either... which meant...

"She thought you wanted to pair Nyd with Belldandy," she said in a haunted whisper.

Frigga looked down at the bar and nodded slowly. "She didn't realize until after she had sworn to the agreement what I really intended. After that..." She shrugged.

"She must have been pissed," Urd said sadly.

"She was," Frigga agreed. "We have been friends for thousands of years, since we were little girls. She felt I had tricked her... which... in fairness... I did. She has said that she has forgiven me and will still hold to the Pairing... but it's obvious by the way she looks at me that things have changed forever between us..."

Urd stared at her stepmother, still confused. "Frigga... why? Why would you do that? I mean..."

"I did it for you, Urd," Frigga told her firmly. "I know it hasn't been easy for you, growing up in Heaven as a half-demon. I know what happened when you first saw your angel, and I know about the things people have said about you." She took another drink, searching for strength in the burning, amber liquid. "I also know that part of the reason you stayed with that... beatnik... hippy... low-life lute player... for so long was that..." She sighed. "... Was that you thought he was the best you could ever get."

She turned to her stepdaughter with determined eyes. "Just once in your life, I wanted you to have something pure, something you _deserved_. I didn't want you to feel like you had to settle for less than what you were worth anymore. I wanted you to have a man in your life who would treat you like the _goddess_ you were. I've known Nyd all his life, watched him grow up, watched Eir raise him to be a good and caring man, and I _knew_ that if I could get the two of you together, he would _love you for the rest of his life!_"

Frigga stared down at the table, unwilling to face her stepdaughter after this revelation. There was silence for several moments, and then she noticed a new sound.

Sniffling.

She turned and found Urd wiping tears away.

"Urd? Honey?"

"Dammit," Urd muttered, drying her eyes. "You couldn't have some kind of selfish, narcissistic, political reason for doing it?" she asked. "You couldn't just be anxious for grandchildren or something? You have to have some kind of selfless reason?"

Frigga smiled. "I'm sorry. Next time I'll think more of myself..."

The Norn laughed, tears streaming from her eyes.

888

When the goddesses returned to the room an hour later, Frigga immediately excused herself and went to her room. Urd, seeing Nyd sitting on the couch working on his computer, said goodnight to her stepmother and stepped over to him.

"So," she began carefully. "How's Megumi?"

"She's okay," Nyd said, not looking up from his work.

"Did she invite you out or something?" Urd asked.

"I really can't talk about it," he said, looking up at her. "Healer-patient privilege."

Urd blinked. "You mean... she called for _medical advice_?!"

His face pinched. "I told you, I can't talk about it."

The Norn didn't care, and chastised herself for feeling relieved at that. She was a goddess of love, not a middle-school student worried if the guy she liked liked her back. She also kicked herself a little for thinking that Nyd and Megumi might have been looking at one another in that way. After all, did she not just a night ago give Nyd a gift so wonderful he could never seek out another?

She sat down next to him, sidling close. "Nyd, we need to talk."

He blinked and turned to her. "Oh? What about?"

"About earlier," she said. "I know you're new to this, but there's something you simply must know."

Thinking he had done something terrible, Nyd started to stammer. "I... I'm sorry! I... I mean... You're right... about... you know... whatever it is... But I didn't know! I swear!"

"Nyd," she said, "When you greet your lover, you're supposed to kiss her."

He blinked. "Oh."

"Oh," she agreed, rolling her eyes.

He turned a deep shade of red and started to sweat. "But... in front of your mother?"

She took his chin in her hand. "_Especially_ in front of other people," she clarified. "It allows me to demonstrate to any other interested woman that you are mine. Understand?"

"S...s...sure..."

"Good. Now..." She cleared her throat. "Hello, Nyd."

"H...Hello..."

She waited there expectantly. Finally, he jumped, remembering that he was supposed to do something and leaned in, meaning to give her a quick kiss. Instead, she took his face in her hands and kissed him softly and slowly.

He swallowed as they parted. "Hi," he whispered again.

Urd smiled. "See? Now just remember to do that every time and we'll be fine."

"Oooo...kay," he whispered.

"So what are you working on?" she asked, turning to his computer.

He stared off into space for another few moments before shaking himself awake. "Huh? Oh! I'm getting ready to work on what Hild might be hiding."

"How?" Urd asked.

He sighed and winced. "By going through every possibility one by one..." The healer rallied. "Elsa, online."

A three inch hologram of a blonde woman appeared standing on his holotop. "Yes, Herr Doktor?"

"Compile list," he ordered. "All physical and mental conditions, maladies, ailments, foreign objects etcetera that would be detectable using a medical scanner on a goddess. Leave out ailments that would affect infants or the elderly and ailments that would have immediate outward effects detectable by a cursory physical examination."

"Yes, Herr Doktor. Compiling."

They sat there in silence as the holographic assistant compiled the list.

"Can I help?" Urd asked.

He turned to her and blinked. "Um... Yeah! Sure!"

She squeezed in closer so she could see the list as it appeared on the screen. "Well," she sighed. "Only eight thousand possibilities. This should be easy..."

Nyd cleared his throat. "Well... I suppose we should get started..."

The two started going through the list, line by line, working well into the night.

888

"Good workout, everyone," Tamiya rumbled as the Auto Club filtered into the showers. Keiichi had forgotten one of the great benefits of not living in the dorm with the other members of the AC: not having to do their ritualistic morning workout.

He threw himself into it, even as Tamiya led them through what he called, "The Big Fella," a way of doing push-ups that resulted in more than three hundred being done, leaving the exerciser either big... or just hurt.

Every time he went down, he closed his eyes and saw Belldandy's face. Every time he went up, he saw Metheus's. By the time they were done, Keiichi was tired, angry and ready to face the day.

He opened his locker as Otaki and Tamiya talked nearby. Pulling his shirt off, he looked for his shower shoes, unaware that the conversation in the locker room had stopped. Closing his locker, he started for the shower.

"Morisato!" Tamiya rumbled.

"Yeah?" Keiichi asked, turning to them. He realized by the looks on their faces why the talking stopped. Everyone in the locker room was staring at the burn scar on his arm. A moment before, they had been staring at the scars on his back.

They stared, he stared back. "Grow up," he muttered and turned back to the shower.

"Jeez," Otaki muttered. "What the hell happened to him, anyway?"

"He and Megumi saved some trucker's life yesterday," Tamiya told him. "But did you hear the really big news?"

"No," Otaki replied. "What's up?"

"Belldandy left him," Tamiya said.

"No way," Otaki breathed. "He didn't even mention it last night."

The two turned back to their lockers, unaware that other members of the Auto Club had heard them and were feverishly whispering amongst themselves.

888

Frigga opened her bedroom door and stepped out as the sun was rising over Nekomi the next morning, intent on starting breakfast before Nyd and the girls woke up. It was important in this trying time to keep their spirits up, and nothing did that like pancakes.

As she entered the kitchen, she turned and smiled at the sight that met her in the living room. Urd and Nyd were sleeping on the couch, the healer lying behind her daughter with his arms wrapped possessively around her waist. Three dimensional fireworks from the holotop's screen saver illuminated the two sleeping forms in red and green light.

She sighed. "Young people..."

The queen found the pots and pans she needed and inadvertently banged them together. Urd's eyes opened to the sound. Moving around, she realized something was holding her there and looked down. Seeing Nyd's arms around her waist, she smiled.

"Hey," she whispered. "Wake up."

"Huh?" he said sleepily. Opening his eyes, he saw how the two of them were arranged and started to remove his hands, but Urd's found his and kept them in place.

"Don't," she warned. She liked the feeling. For some reason it comforted her.

"How late were we up?" she asked.

"I think until four," he admitted.

"I don't remember," she confessed. "Did we find anything?"

He reached out to his computer, stretching toward it which caused him to press against her. She smiled.

The healer sighed in disappointment. "We sure did," he said. "More than a hundred possibilities."

She groaned and shut her eyes. "I need coffee."

"Maybe Ms. Frigga will have some ideas?"

"Ideas about what, son?" she asked, suddenly appearing before them.

Not realizing the matron had been in the same room, Nyd suddenly pushed, meaning to get up and try to pass off his closeness to Urd as accidental. All he actually accomplished was pushing the Norn off the couch onto the floor.

Urd cried out as she hit the floor.

"I'm sorry!" he quickly cried.

The Norn sat up and glared at him. "You and I need to work on a few issues," she said.

Frigga just smiled at their antics. "You said you wanted me to look at something?" she asked.

"Oh! Um... Yes!" he said. "Urd and I have been working on what Hild might be hiding in regards to Belldandy's health. We have a list of possibilities, but we don't know which it might be. I'm hoping a different point of view might shed some light."

"I don't know what help I'll be, but I can try." She sat down and turned the holotop toward her. She ran her eyes down the list. "I'm no doctor, Nyd," she said with a smile. "I hope you're not hoping for an expert diagnosis."

"Actually, since you're a seer, I just thought you might have some inkling as to what..."

She stopped listening as her eyes came upon one particular possibility. Nyd saw her pause and stopped speaking.

"Ms. Frigga?"

She sat back, her face pensive.

"Frigga?" Urd asked from where she sat on the floor.

"Urd, I don't normally speak of what I see of the future," she replied. "Just hints, clues. For instance, I never saw this kidnapping coming. It's very random, very hard to say for sure what it is I'm looking at, but I do know one thing for certain. Your sister will have children. I assume with Mr. Morisato, but I have never seen anything that proves that beyond all doubt. I have seen her with child."

The Norn sat up and turned the computer toward her. The choice Frigga had stopped on was still highlighted.

Pregnancy.

Nyd blinked. "Elsa, calculate the odds of the highlighted possibility given the information entered from Ms. Belldandy's examination and history."

"Forty-two percent, Herr Doktor," Elsa replied.

He took a breath. "I never would have thought of..." he trailed off.

"No, Herr Doktor," Elsa supplied, the hologram's lips quirking up in a half smile. "Males never do."

The healer turned bright red and cleared his throat.

"It's a lead," Urd said. "Under the circumstances I hope it's not true, but it's a place to start."

"So how do we prove it?" Frigga asked. "It's not something Belldandy would have tried to hide. If she knew..."

Urd nodded. If her sister had become pregnant and discovered it, she would have taken out ad space in every newspaper she could find.

"Keiichi might know," Nyd supplied. "If they had discussed the possibility... or they may have been trying to conceive..."

Urd nodded and stood up. "I'll ask him. I want to check up on him anyway."

"Invite him to dinner, dear," Frigga asked her. "It's not right that he's not here with us."

The Norn nodded. "I will."

888

Keiichi lit a cigarette as he walked across the quad toward his next class. His experience in the locker room had soured him on the rest of the day, not that his outlook was very bright to begin with. He felt helpless, helpless to help the woman he loved, and he hated it. There was nothing he could do but wait and hope Frigga or Urd could pull off a miracle.

Not that he hadn't tried to think of something he could do. He laid in bed at night trying to come up with some way to get her out of there. He thought about requesting a return on his wish, perhaps exchanging it for a wish that would free Belldandy, but he remembered that wishes couldn't be exchanged.

"Senpai!"

He turned and found Hasegawa running up to him. "Hi, Hasegawa," he greeted.

The younger woman bowed. "Senpai, I just wanted to say how sorry I am."

"Sorry about what?" he asked, continuing toward his class.

"About... well... you know," she said.

He took an irritated breath. "No, Hasegawa, I don't know," he growled, wishing people would stop tip-toeing around him.

"About Belldandy senpai leaving you," she said. "You two just seemed so right together, you know?"

"Woah, hold on," he said. "Belldandy didn't leave me," he corrected her. "She's out of town."

Hasegawa bit her lip. "That's not what the rumor mill is saying."

"And when was the last time the rumor mill was right?" he asked.

"True," she relented.

He was so wrapped up in correcting Hasegawa that he failed to see the man at the head of the group walking toward him until it was too late.

"Ah, Morisato kun," Aoshima greeted him with a smile.

_This day just keeps getting better and better..._ Keiichi thought. "Hey, Aoshima."

The head of the Auto Club's on-campus rival adjusted his glasses and smiled unctuously. "I heard about you and Belldandy. I'm so sorry."

"Uh huh," Keiichi replied. "Thanks for the sentiment." He started to walk by.

"I suppose it was inevitable," Aoshima remarked.

Keiichi paused and took a breath.

"I mean, she was simply out of your class," Aoshima continued. By this time, Otaki, Tamiya and several other members of the Auto Club had seen the two talking and had drifted over. Their presence didn't deter Aoshima one bit, however. "A delicate flower like Belldandy belongs with a man of sophistication."

"Hey, Aoshima," a feminine voice called out, the owner of it pushing her way through the crowd. "Why don't you and I go somewhere where we can be alone." Urd winked and held a finger up, hinting at the lightning bolt yet to come.

However, seeing victory so close, the boy couldn't help but keep going.

"All I'm doing is passing on my condolences," he said. "It's a shame... but a woman like Belldandy needs a man worthy of her, one willing to do what it takes."

Keiichi stood there, fuming silently.

"Perhaps if you had done more to keep her happy, she wouldn't have been so eager to leave," Aoshima remarked.

Aoshima had expected many things from that remark. He expected members of the Auto Club to rush to Keiichi's defense. He expected Keiichi to say something, or at the very least glare. He expected Tamiya and Otaki to propose some kind of stupid race to salve their club's honor. The last thing he expected was for Keiichi to whirl around, grab the boy by his tie and punch him as hard as he could in the nose.

The blow knocked the student's head back, but he couldn't fall. Keiichi still had his tie, which made the second punch much easier.

"Son of a bitch!" Keiichi growled as he punched the boy a third time.

"KEIICHI!" Urd cried, grabbing him by the arm and pulling. Tamiya and Otaki did the same while Hasegawa placed herself between the two men, protecting Aoshima, who was holding his nose and falling to his knees.

"COME ON!" Keiichi screamed at him. "COME ON, YOU COCKSUCKER! YOU'VE SPENT TWO YEARS TELLING EVERYONE WHAT A FUCKING MAN YOU ARE! COME ON AND PROVE IT! LET GO OF ME, GOD DAMMIT!"

The fact that it took Urd, Otaki _and_ Tamiya working together to pull him away was a testament to how much rage the boy was unleashing.

Aoshima climbed to his feet, holding a bloody nose, but still keeping Hasegawa between himself and the enraged boy.

"You boke by bose!" Aoshima cried, blood running down onto his suit.

Finally having a firm hold on Keiichi, Tamiya rumbled. "We'll settle this the honorable way," he decided. "A race! Our club against..."

"BULLSHIT!" Keiichi screamed. "No races! No bets! No meeting under the fucking monkeybars after recess! Me and him! Right now! Come on, Aoshima! Show all these girls hanging on your every word that you've got a pair!" He struggled against his friends' grip, desperate to get at the boy and pound him into the dirt.

Tamiya turned toward him. "Morisato, the honor of our club..."

"THE HELL WITH OUR CLUB!" he shouted back.

"Aoshima, this would be a good time for you to go," Urd growled out. Together, the three of them managed to drag the screaming boy away.

Aoshima, still standing behind Hasegawa, straightened his shoulders and shouted after them. "Dats right! You bebber run!"

Somehow, they managed to get him to the Auto Club clubhouse where they unceremoniously dumped him on the floor. The boy shot to his feet and started for the door, but Urd stepped in his way.

"Get out of my way, Urd," he growled.

Urd stared into his eyes, saw the painful rage in them. "Boys, give me a few minutes with him, okay?"

Tamiya and Otaki looked at each other and nodded, stepping out the door.

"You going to break _my_ nose now?" she asked.

He turned and punched a box of air filters that had been stacked nearby. Urd watched and wished she knew what to do. Watching him slide further and further into depression was heart-rending, but what was worse was the feeling that there was nothing she could do about it.

"First the Almighty, now Aoshima," she said. "Are you _trying_ get someone to beat the crap out of you?"

The boy finally turned to her, his hands on his hips and his breath coming in deep, angry gasps. "So what?!" he asked, spreading his arms out. "You going to fight my battles for me now, Urd?" he demanded. "You going to prevent me from getting hurt too?" He pointed at the door. "Well don't worry, because I don't need your help. And I don't need the senpais' help, or Megumi's or Hasegawa's! All right?!"

He turned away again and ran his fingers through his hair, not noticing Aoshima's blood on his knuckles matting his hair.

"This is about what happened in Hell," she said softly. He didn't turn to her. "You got beat up pretty bad," she went on. "And it wasn't enough. You fought as hard as you could, and it wasn't enough to save Belldandy and it is _eating you up_ _inside_!"

Keiichi faced her and took a breath. "I didn't ask her to save me," he said bitterly. "I didn't ask her to give up her freedom for me. She might have thought that trade off was worth it, well I'm telling you, _it wasn't!_" He knocked over another box and sat down on it. "The very thought of her in that place kills me a little every second, Urd," he said. "And what can I do, huh? I can't help her. I can't." He held his burnt arm and looked down at the ground.

He looked up at her again. "She's gone. Heaven won't help her. And I can't help her. I don't even know why you, Frigga and Skuld are still here."

She knelt next to him and took his hand. "You're not just some Goddess Help Line customer, Keiichi," she said softly. "You wished to have a goddess like Belldandy always by your side. Well, you're a part of our family now, and that means you _always will_."

She blinked back tears. "Almighty in Heaven, Keiichi, you think you've done something wrong? That you haven't done enough? You stood up to the High Inquisitor of the Demonic Realm for _my_ sister, Frigga's daughter. And who are you? You're a mortal boy from Dirtwater, Hokkaido! Not a valkyrie, or an angel... a mortal. You, who had the most to lose, _you_ stood up to them. You think we can _ever_ repay you for that, Keiichi? If more gods had half your heart, there'd be a Goddess Help Line office in Hell right now, and Belldandy would be home."

"But they don't," she said sadly. "And she's not. So we're going to have to find some other way. One thing I know for sure, if she saw you like this, beating up on yourself, lashing out at the people around you, she would be so upset by it! You want to help her? You hold on! You stay strong! For her! You think about her all the time, and I guarantee you she can feel that! Because I also guarantee she's thinking about you."

He sighed, a sob dying in his throat. Squeezing his eyes shut, he nodded.

"And be ready," she said cryptically. "Right now Frigga is allowing Heaven to do their jobs, but she's not going to wait forever. When she acts, she might need your help. You _don't_ want to be in a hospital or jail when she does."

The boy looked up at her and nodded again, this time with fire in his eyes.

"You going to be okay?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Yeah."

"Okay," she said, smiling. "Stop by the hotel tonight, okay?" she asked. "Frigga wants to make you dinner."

He nodded. "Hey, Urd," he said. "Why did you come to the school today, anyway?"

She paused. "Just checking up on you."

Keiichi smiled. "Thanks, Urd."

The Norn turned semi-cross with him. "I mean it, Keiichi," she warned him. "Come over tonight. You have family in town visiting."

"Okay," he said.

Smiling, she turned and walked out of the clubhouse. Once she was out of earshot, she sighed and leaned against a tree. There was no way she could ask him. He felt so guilty about failing Belldandy that to even suggest she might be pregnant with his child would tear him apart.

They'd have to find another way.

888

Belldandy watched in horror as Keiichi punched Aoshima for a third time and fought against her sister, Tamiya and Otaki. As blood flowed down Aoshima's face, she was forced to turn away, shutting her eyes.

"Keiichi," she whispered. She had watched him every free moment she had and was seeing an alarming picture unfold. He was falling... and she wasn't there to catch him.

_He needs me!_ she thought. _He needs me, and I'm not there! I'm not there!_

The goddess could feel her heart breaking in her chest. She couldn't bear it. She had to get back to him. But how?

Escape? She was no fool. Hild could talk all she wanted how the Elites were there to protect her, but she knew the moment she tried to leave Hell they'd fall on her like wolves.

Wait for rescue? Nyd and Hild had all but told her that such a thing was unlikely.

There was, of course, a third option. Sometimes the fastest way was straight through.

She took several deep breaths. That a goddess would consider this course of action at all was simply stunning, but what option did she have? Keiichi... _her Keiichi_... was descending further and further into a dark place. How long until he was so deep he couldn't get out again? He needed her. Not later. Now.

Hild had made her a promise, which was more than what Heaven had offered. The sooner she finished her training, the sooner she'd see Keiichi again. Could she do that? Could she truly turn her back on her goddesshood and become what Hild wanted her to be for Keiichi? Was she really willing to trade that much? Trade her soul?

_Yes, _my _soul, _she thought. _And only I can determine what it's worth._

She squared her shoulders and took a breath. It was decided then. In order to keep her promise to Keiichi, she would keep her promise to Hild.

Belldandy would complete her training as quickly as possible...

And become a demon.

She reached up and turned off the crystal ball. There was work to be done.

888

Nyd looked up as Urd opened the door to his bedroom and stepped inside. Without a word of greeting to him, she started to pace back and forth in front of him.

"Um... Urd?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

She didn't reply immediately, instead she continued to pace.

He watched her for several moments and finally saw her stop, swallow and turn to him. "Look," she said after another minute. "I..." She stopped short again, and he could see the conflict in her expression, the goddess unsure of whether or not she wanted to do something she seemed to either need or desperately want to do. "Forget it," she said suddenly and turned back for the door.

"Wait!" he cried, rising to his feet. She paused at the door. "Tell me," he asked. "What's wrong?"

She rested her hand on the door and leaned against it. "I just spoke with Keiichi," she said. "Look, I'm trying to be strong here, okay?" she added quietly. "It's just... Frigga's stressed out, Skuld is withdrawn, Peorth is under arrest and even if she wasn't, she's on just this side of rampant... And..."

"And there's no one you can talk to about what _you_ are feeling," he finished sadly.

She turned to him. "Don't you _dare_ think that I'm just feeling like this because I'm a woman," she warned dangerously. "I don't need protection, got that?"

He didn't fumble his words this time. "No," he agreed. "You don't. But if we're... lovers... Then tell me, what good is a lover if you can't tell them how you feel?"

Urd looked away. "I'm scared for her... More than that... I'm terrified." She shook her head. "You have no idea what Hild is capable of, Nyd. No one does. Not Frigga or Lind... none of them. They think she's going to use Belldandy as a bargaining chip or something like that, something _they_ can wrap their minds around, but Hild doesn't work that way. She's not just going to hurt Belldandy somehow, she's going to take her soul. If she is pregnant... and she doesn't find out before Hild owns her completely... it'll destroy her. She won't be able to live with herself knowing she damned her own child."

Nyd thought on this for several moments, trying to think of something helpful to say. "You know," he reminded her. "And that means we have the first hints of a plan. And that's more than we had before. We have to find out if Frigga's hunch is correct and we have to warn Belldandy. Knowing what you know, maybe that means we can head off the worst."

"Or maybe it means we just get to watch the inevitable," she said.

He looked down at the floor sadly. "Maybe," he allowed. "But if it comes to that, we'll face it together. I mean... I'm not going to let you go through it all alone..."

She tried to imagine Troubadour saying something like that to her and couldn't make it work without him sounding one hundred percent insincere.

Urd stepped forward and took his hand. "I never really apologized to you," she said. "For the way I treated you. You're a good man, Nyd. And don't let me or anyone else make you think differently, okay?"

He smiled and blushed. "I'm glad you think so," he said quietly.

"I do," she said. She squeezed his hand. "That's why... well..."

It was her turn now to fumble, and Nyd blinked, fascinated by a speechless Urd.

Finally, she blurted it out. "I want to know you," she said.

Nyd started turning red and didn't stop until he was almost purple. For mortals, the words were innocent. For gods and goddesses, it meant a great deal more.

"Um... I..I...I..." he stammered. He was on the border of panic now. "I... Excuse me!" He ran into the bathroom, leaving Urd blinking after him. Her face fell and she sighed as the sound of retching came from the bath.

"How flattering," she sighed.

Walking to the bathroom door, she tapped lightly on it. "Nyd? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" he called back.

She sighed again. "Look, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable!" he replied quickly, throwing up again a moment later.

Urd rubbed her temples. "Nyd, if you don't want to..."

"No, I... I... I _want_ to," he replied. "I... just... didn't think... you know... _you_ would...I..."

She took a breath. The door suddenly opened, and he was there, drinking mouthwash straight from the bottle. He capped it, but wouldn't look at her. "You don't want to know me," he whispered. "There's nothing to know."

"I see," she said with a half smile. "So I'm good enough to sleep with but not good enough to know?"

"I didn't mean that!" he cried in panic. "I mean... you're very worth knowing! I'd love to know you! I..."

"Then it's settled!" she cut him off. His eyes widened in panic. He opened his mouth to protest and she put her hand over it. "It's settled," she whispered again. "Okay?"

He nodded slowly, and she pulled her hand away, leaning up to give him a kiss. "I want to do this," she whispered to him. "If you _really_ don't, tell me now."

Nyd said nothing.

"Okay then," she said. She kissed his cheek. "Thanks for listening," she said. "See you tonight."

With that, she turned and strolled out of the room. Nyd watched her go and quickly checked the mouthwash bottle for alcohol before uncapping it and taking a long swig.


	17. Right Side of Wrong

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 17**_

_**Right Side of Wrong**_

* * *

**"Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home,**

**And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin',**

**Your prison is walking through this world all alone..."**

_The Eagles_

_Desperado_

* * *

Keiichi entered the temple cautiously, broken glass cracking under his feet. Blood was still drying on the walls as he walked slowly from the kitchen into the living room in a state of shock. He heard something stir and went stock still.

Gaeriel, her arm in a sling, emerged, her saber in her good hand. "Oh," she said. "It's you."

"What happened?" he asked, amazed at the carnage around him.

The valkyrie turned and led him into the living room where she had been cleaning up, a self-imposed penance. "The rampant came," she said. "And he brought twenty of his closest friends. Peorth's gone."

"Gone?!" he asked, shocked. "Gone alive? Gone dead? Gone hurt? What?!"

She bit her lip. "She was okay when I last saw her," she admitted. "I think she's okay."

He gave the room another look. "So what now?" he asked.

The lieutenant looked at the floor. "I don't know."

"You don't know?!"

"I've been taken off this mission," she admitted in shame. "I'm just here in case one of them comes back."

"How likely is that?" he asked her.

"Not likely at all," she said, shaking her head.

Keiichi nodded and started down the hall to the room he shared with Belldandy. Unbidden, Gaeriel followed him. She watched from the doorway as he looked through the shattered remains of his room. There were several burnt holes in the walls, slashes in the futon, and it literally looked as if a bomb had gone off in it.

He knelt down and found a picture of him and Belldandy in a cracked frame. His eyes lingered over her image as Gaeriel spoke up again.

"The ferocity of the attack," she murmured. "It caught me by surprise," she admitted. "Why would Hild use her troops, violate Doublet?"

"Maybe she didn't," Keiichi suggested, his eyes not leaving the picture. "Maybe it was just Wynn."

"On his own?" she asked, the disbelief evident in her tone.

"He loves Peorth. Have you ever been in love?" Keiichi asked her.

Her head swung toward him fast enough to break the sound barrier. "I a... have been," she corrected at the last second.

"And if he was in danger," Keiichi went on, caressing Belldandy's image with his finger. "What would you do save him?"

"Anything," Gaeriel admitted turning away and frowning at the possibility.

He looked up at the ceiling. "Welcome to anything," he told her.

She looked away for a moment before shooting him an annoyed look. "Are you really saying we got our asses kicked by the power of _love_?"

Keiichi stood up, the photograph in hand. "I'm saying that you don't know what you're really capable of doing until someone you love really needs you to do it."

He left the room, walking past her without another look.

888

Belldandy shot up in bed and pulled the cover closer to herself. There was someone there.

Her eyes tried to focus on whatever it was in the room with her, but the darkness was overpowering. Stretching out with her senses, she tried to find it again.

There! A presence! Small, undefined... But there...

Fear gripped her. This wasn't her room on Earth. This was Hell. Who knew what it could be?

She licked her lips nervously. "E...Elites..." she whispered.

It was as if she had shrieked the word at the top of her lungs. The bedroom door burst open, and four of the shadowy guards flew into the room, taking up positions at each corner of her bed, black-lances pointed outward.

The lights came on, and the Elites searched the room. Their captain turned and whispered a question to her.

"A presence," she answered. "In the room with me."

Another question.

She shook her head. "I didn't see it, but I know it was there."

One of the Elites must have contacted their commander on Hild's guard because it only took two minutes for the arch-demoness to walk through the door, her crimson silk robe billowing behind her.

"Are you all right?" she asked Belldandy immediately.

The goddess nodded.

Hild turned on the guard captain. "Speak!"

The Elite whispered in its near-silent language.

"Then locate it!" Hild roared. "Search the palace! Room by room, if you must, and bring it to me!"

The Elite bowed and rushed to carry out her orders. Hild turned and sat on the edge of Belldandy's bed.

"Did you see it?" she asked. "Any clues to what it might have been?"

Belldandy looked down at her blanket. "I'm sorry," she said. "Perhaps I was mistaken and overreacted."

The demoness smiled. "You needn't apologize," she said. "Better safe than sorry."

"But now your guards will be..."

"They serve their mistresses," Hild told her. "And it brings them joy to do so."

Belldandy didn't look convinced, but as long as Hild was here...

"Mother, I wanted to speak with you about something," she said.

"Go on," Hild invited.

"What must I do to complete my training as quickly as possible?" Belldandy asked.

Hild let out a quick breath, shocked by the question. It was most unexpected at this time, but also most welcome. "Belldandy," she said, "Are you saying you _want_ to become a demoness?"

It was a simple question, but Belldandy gave it serious thought anyway. "I want to see Keiichi," she said. "He needs me, regardless of what I am. If I must become a demon regardless... as you said before... then there is no harm in applying myself to that goal."

Hild had to stop herself from crying in joy. Here Belldandy was practically begging her to make her a demon. It couldn't possibly get better than this!

"Come with me," Hild said with a smile.

888

Peorth woke up and took a guilty breath, angry at herself. She had continuously reminded herself of what the goals here were, and yet she had to constantly convince herself not to abandon those goals.

She couldn't help it. Her first night in Hell had also been the first night she and Wynn could really be together. At first she had firmly decided not to cross that line, but as she had tended to his injuries he had made the first move, sitting up and embracing her. He kissed her passionately, holding her possessively, owning her and letting her know it. Unable to help herself, she kissed back, and as things usually happened in that situation, things had progressed from there.

But it hadn't been sleeping with him that made her feel so awful. In fact, she had reveled in it. No, it was afterward, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking that she had dared to think something horrible.

_Why can't I just stay and be with him? Why not?_

She hated herself for even considering it. She was a goddess and she had a job to do. Somewhere, possibly in this same palace, Belldandy was trapped, and her only hope was that Peorth could turn Wynn, find her and get them both out of Hell.

Crawling out of bed, she went to the bath and looked at herself in the mirror. She needed a plan.

_Start simple,_ she told herself. Taking a breath, she thought of what she needed right now.

_Easy, freedom of movement._

_Okay, it's a start. _

She felt his arms wrap around her and saw his face looking back at her in the mirror.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded. "Oui." Turning her head, she gave him a kiss. He hugged her tightly.

"I've missed you," he told her seriously.

Her heart was breaking. She was manipulating him, and she hated it. "I missed you too," she replied. "Wynn," she started again. "What's Hell like?"

"I'll show you," he promised.

888

"Any word from Gaeriel on how the trap is going?" Urd asked as she sat down at the table.

Frigga, cooking at the stove, shook her head, but not in denial, in disbelief. "No, but I've already heard about the results from Hild."

"What?!" Urd cried.

The queen pointed a wooden spoon at the holotop on the table. "Open it. It's on the desktop." She turned back to the chicken she was cooking. "Apparently it was sent just after one of her special ops teams broke past Lieutenant Gaeriel's valkyries and took Peorth."

"Peorth's gone?!"

Frigga shook her head sadly.

"So what's Hild doing? Gloating?"

"Play the file," Frigga urged. "You won't believe it. She sent it to Michael, Lind and every god and goddess high enough in rank to have anything to do with a response. Go ahead."

Urd found the file and hit play. A hologram of Hild appeared hovering over the holotop.

"Good evening," the hologram said in greeting. "By now I'm sure you've heard of an attack against one of your valkyrie units on Earth by a group of demons. I can say truthfully that this attack was not ordered by my military but was the work of a rogue group of gods and demons who fear a possible peaceful resolution in our long-standing disagreements."

"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!" Urd shouted.

Hild's hologram looked to the floor as if ashamed her demons would do such a thing. "I assure you, my Inquisition is hard at work looking for those who have perpetrated this cowardly and unprovoked attack and will bring those responsible to justice. In the meantime, please offer my most heartfelt condolences to the families of those whose lives were lost."

"Do they really expect anyone to buy this load of crap?!" Urd asked.

Frigga stirred the chicken with a renewed ferocity. Urd's face fell.

"They already bought the load of crap, didn't they?" she asked.

"They prefer that than to believe open war is upon us," Frigga said.

Urd banged her head against the table.

"They're afraid," Frigga said simply. "Heaven has changed a great deal since the last war. The valkyries are not the force they used to be. There are no more Helljumpers ready to throw themselves into battle, and 'conscript' is a dirty word. Doublet has made frightened little girls of us all."

"I can't believe that," Urd said. "All gods have battled a demon at one time or another."

"And sealed them," Frigga reminded her. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel before continuing. "Sealing is neat, clean, and no one _really_ gets hurt." She paused. "When you meet her, ask Eir about what a battle wound is really like. Or ask Nyd about the things he's seen in Africa. War, Urd, is a filthy, horrible thing that _should_ be avoided, just not to the point where our very values become meaningless."

The Norn bit her lip. "Which means they'll do absolutely nothing for Belldandy."

Frigga paused. "Hope remains for Belldandy. I know she will be free."

"What hope is there?" Urd asked. "Just this afternoon I told Keiichi the same thing, but it's hard to find hope when Heaven will let demons butcher a group of valkyries and get away with it with a nicely worded lie."

"I have hope, Urd," Frigga said with a wink, "Because now Peorth is in Hell. I refuse to believe the report that said she turned and went willingly. Peorth went to Hell to find Belldandy."

There was a knock at the door and Frigga went to answer it. Opening the door, she found Keiichi standing there, looking nervous.

"Hi," he said quietly.

She stared at him for a moment before leaping forward and embracing him in a bear hug. "I'm so glad you came, son!" she cried. "Come in! Come in!"

Relieved, Keiichi stepped inside. Urd slapped him on the back, and even Skuld hugged him.

"Any news about Belldandy or Peorth?" he asked.

"So you heard about Peorth?" Urd asked.

He nodded. "I stopped by the temple. Looked like we missed one hell of a party," silently relieved that they _had_ missed it.

"Sit, Keiichi! Sit!" Frigga implored him as she fixed him something to drink. "How are you getting along at your friend's place?"

"I'm good, thanks," he said. "So, any news?" he asked again.

Frigga repeated to Keiichi what she had told Urd, adding in her thoughts on Peorth. Keiichi nodded thoughtfully.

"Then there's still a chance," Keiichi said.

"If Peorth is still herself," Urd cautioned.

"Of course she's herself!" Skuld shot back. "Peorth wouldn't abandon Oneesama!"

"Look, all I'm saying is that anything can happen in these situations," Urd defended herself.

Frigga, knowing about Peorth's linking with Wynn in the Spark and the possible ramifications, nodded. "Even so, I have faith in Peorth. We shall have to see."

888

Her official status in Hell was difficult to ascertain. On one hand, no demon was rude to her or even gave her an off-color look. On the other hand, she was not free to be more than ten feet from Metheus while she was out of his room without the limiter on her ear giving her a shock of pain through her body. If she was a prisoner, she had gracious guards. If she was a guest, rude hosts.

Metheus led her down a flight of marble steps to a mammoth open chamber holding Hell's signature tourist attraction.

The Lake of Fire.

The sea of magma stretched out as far as she could see, fed by lava falls that stretched up so far that she couldn't make out where they started. It was beautiful in a creepy, oppressive kind of way.

The Inquisitor leaned over a stone guardrail and looked out over the fiery ocean.

"It's not great," he said quietly. "But it's home."

She gazed out at the lake for a moment before turning to him. "Why didn't you take Miranda's offer?" she asked.

"Why should I?" he asked in answer.

"Because it was sincere," she told him directly. She turned away again. "Because we could have been together that way."

"Spending the rest of eternity in a backwater realm..."

"Something you, yourself, considered as a career path!" she said accusingly.

"This is what I am," he said. "I belong here."

"You belong with _me_!" she cried in response.

He turned to her and smiled. "And so I am."

She growled in frustration, but her voice softened a moment later. "Wynn, it would have been over. Hell, The Seven, the war, all of it." She looked down at the guardrail. "You could be free."

Peorth felt his fingers gently take her chin and turn her head toward him. He smiled at her. "I'm already free, Fleur," he whispered. His hand came up and touched his heart. "In here."

She let out a frustrated breath.

"They can't take that away," he continued softly. "No matter what happens, whether Hild kills me or Lind, my destiny is one of my own choosing. I'm free."

The love goddess turned and took a few steps from him, mindful of the limiter on her ear. She turned back angrily. "And Belldandy?" she asked acidly. "Is she free too?"

"What do you want from me, Petite Fleur?" he asked. The demon-god began to pace angrily. "I came back from the dead for you. Put my team at risk _for you_. Defied the most powerful demon in the history of Creation and I have done it all _for you_! What would you have me do for you next? How far shall I go? What else shall I sacrifice?"

Peorth glared at him.

"You think I don't realize how awful this is?" he asked, his tone softening. "I have no illusions about what I've done. I'm no hero in this, Fleur. Hell, I'm a monster. But that was the price for your freedom, for you being allowed to come down here, and I paid it _gladly!_"

"It's not right, Wynn!" she hissed. "You traded an innocent goddess for me?! You _bought_ me like a painting that caught your fancy, and you could have simply taken Miranda up on her offer!"

"'Right?'" he asked. "You want to talk about what's 'right?'" He took a step toward her and glared at her with his one good eye. "There hasn't been a 'right' in a very long time, Fleur. On either side. You want things to be right? Shake your fist at the Almighty and shout, 'Make things right!' I guarantee you he's not listening. He hasn't for a very long time. I can only make things right for me, for you, and for my team. The rest of Creation can burn for all I care."

"You really have changed," she whispered sadly.

He didn't know how to reply to that, so he didn't. The demon-god turned back to the lake. "I love you, Fleur," he said. "I always have. I always will. I would do anything to keep you safe, but you have to realize that I'm not what I used to be."

She stepped forward and touched his arm. "You can be again," she said quietly. "I can help. I know I can."

"Are you going to take away the things I've done?" he asked quietly. "Make them as if they never happened? Take away my bad dreams? Bring back the demons and the gods I've killed?"

Each question hit her like a hammer blow. Of course she couldn't do those things, but he was right that it was the only way to restore the care-free lover of her youth.

"Then you can't help," he said sadly. "I have to live with my choices."

And she would have to live with hers, she knew. But she knew she would make choices she could live with. Wrapping her arms around him, she gazed out at the lake with him.

888

Belldandy followed Hild into her chambers, the Elites left to their own devices at the door. The former Norn glanced about at the expansive bedroom, comfortably furnished in black and red. Her eyes fell on an easel in the center of the room covered by a black cloth. She wandered toward it as Hild searched her file cabinet for something.

She gently took the corner of the cloth and pulled it back enough to see half the painting, only to find Urd's green eyes staring back at her. Belldandy blinked and pulled more away. The image was a family portrait with Hild sitting on a sofa with Urd on one side and Belldandy on the other.

"Found it!" Hild cried.

Belldandy quickly dropped the cloth back into place and turned. Hild approached with a manila folder in her hand. "This, my dear, is your training record. It is a checklist of everything you must accomplish and who must approve it before you can receive a demon license."

She sat on the couch, the same one in the painting, and beckoned the Norn to sit next to her. Taking a resolute breath, Belldandy did, folding her hands in her lap.

Hild opened the folder and removed the list at the top. "Let's see," she said musingly. "It looks like seventeen weeks of training..."

Belldandy's heart sunk into her stomach. Seventeen weeks might as well be seventeen years...

"But perhaps we can move things along a little," Hild told her, offering her a smile. Unconsciously, Belldandy smiled back.

Hild produced a red pen from out of nowhere and went down the list. "Combat? You've fought demons before so we know you can seal. It's the same for a god as it is a demon, so let's go ahead and sign that off..." She moved the pen dramatically over the paper, leaving her name in a fiery red script. "What's next?"

She went down the list item by item, quizzing Belldandy on some things, her answers either satisfying Hild enough for her sign off on another item or causing her to schedule her for the proper training. An hour later, they had managed to whittle it down to six weeks of training.

"Six weeks," Belldandy sighed. "It's still such a long time."

Hild put the list aside and shrugged. "There are little scheduling tricks we can do," she said. "I think I can cut another three weeks off that by combining two of your training modules."

"Which ones?" Belldandy asked.

The demoness smiled at her. "Elements of Hatred," she answered. "And Punishing the Wicked."

888

Urd pulled open the glass door to the balcony and stepped outside, finding Keiichi leaning against the railing, a cigarette in his hand.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked.

He shrugged. "It's a nonsmoking room."

"Want some company?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

She leaned against the railing and regarded him for several moments before speaking again. "You sound better," she said.

He shrugged again. "You made a lot of sense," he confessed. "Being pissed off isn't going to help Belldandy. I mean... what happened to me... I have time to deal with that later. Belldandy needs help now."

Urd nodded. "I'm glad to hear you say that. I was worried about you."

Keiichi smiled. "I didn't realize you or Skuld or Frigga saw me in that way. I was feeling pretty alone."

"You're not, just remember that."

He nodded. "Thanks, Urd."

They looked out at the city for a few minutes, taking in the view. Finally, Urd nervously turned to him. "Can I ask you something kind of personal?"

"Sure," he said, lighting another smoke.

"What was Epiphany like?"

He blinked at the question. "Um... Well... I mean you know..."

Urd looked away, her face pinched in embarrassment.

"I mean... Peorth said it's kind of how gods make love so..."

Keiichi lowered his cigarette. "Urd... are you a... I mean, what about Troubadour?"

"Only with this!" she defended. "Troubadour didn't have an angel, and even if he did, at the time mine was... unavailable..."

"Oh," he whispered. "So, I guess things with you and Nyd are..."

She tapped the railing. "Yeah," she answered. "I mean... it's different from when I was with Troubadour. He's... Well... He's kind of like you."

"Me?" Keiichi asked with a laugh. He stifled it for Urd's sake. Their heart-to-heart earlier had done a lot to help him, and he felt he owed her the same. Even if it was hard to believe.

"Yes, you," Urd continued. She paused, trying to find a way to word it. "He... It's like he would do anything for someone he cared about, you know? You're that way too. I honestly think if Belldandy asked you to jump off a bridge, you'd do it."

He shrugged. "Jumped off a tower once..."

"You see? That's what I mean!" she said. "With Troubadour... Even in the good times I never felt that he would do that kind of thing for me."

"And Nyd?" Keiichi asked.

"I don't know," she said. "He loves so sincerely."

"Are you in love with this guy?" Keiichi asked. "A week ago you hated him."

"A week ago I hated the _idea_ of him," she corrected. She took a deep breath. "I don't know."

"Well," Keiichi said, "Epiphany was like..." He paused, taking a drag from his cigarette as he thought on it. "It's kind of like looking into a mirror, but instead of seeing yourself through your eyes, you see yourself through someone else's. But you don't just see what you look like, you see how they feel. You learn everything about a person."

"Would you do it again with Belldandy if you..."

"In a heartbeat," he answered, cutting her off. "I never felt so close to her as I did in those few seconds."

"I want to know him," she said solemnly.

He smiled. "Well, you've never been one to recommend going slow to anyone else," he said.

"You're enjoying the irony, aren't you?" she asked, frowning.

"What?" he replied, flicking the ashes of his cigarette. "What reason would I have to take pleasure in any of this?"

"Screw you, Keiichi."

888

Nyd started to pull the door to his room open only to find it suddenly open itself. Blinking, he found Urd standing on the other side in a violet silk robe.

"I'm not ready yet," she said simply before slamming the door shut in his face.

He stood there stupidly, just staring at the door until Frigga came up behind him.

"Nyd, son, is something wrong?" she asked.

The healer turned and backed into the door like a trapped animal. "Ms. Frigga!" he cried. "Um... Nothing!"

She smiled. "Oh? Are you sure? You look a bit... concerned... about something."

He swallowed, sweat coating his forehead. "Concerned?" he squeaked. "I'm not concerned."

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned in to stare into his eyes. "Are you sure? Perhaps you're ill."

"Ill?" he asked nervously.

"Indeed," she said, pressing her hand against his forehead. "Ah, yes, I see," she said knowingly.

"What?" he asked.

She clucked her tongue and leaned in to whisper into his ear. "Son, it would appear that you have one of young Cupid's arrows stuck in you."

"Huh?" he squeaked.

She smiled. "You shouldn't worry," Frigga assured him. "My daughter is an accomplished love goddess." With that cryptic note, she walked toward her own room.

The door opened and he jumped again. Urd stood in the doorframe, looking almost as unsettled as he was. "Okay," she said quietly. "I'm ready."

She reached out and took the stunned god's hand, pulling him gently into the room. A few strategically placed candles offered only the dimmest of light.

"Lie down," she ordered gently. He sat down and, clearing his throat nervously, fell back until his head hit the pillow. He felt the bed shift and turned and saw her lying down next to him on her side, looking at him.

"Here," she whispered, reaching out and taking his hand again and squeezing it. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

He swallowed and nodded. "Yeah," he gasped out nervously. "I just... I'm just a little... a little nervous, you know. I mean... I haven't done this before..."

"Neither have I," she admitted.

The statement caused him to blink. "But I thought..."

"You're my first like this," she told him.

The pressure in his chest released just a bit. For the first time since their relationship began, he suddenly found himself on equal footing with the love goddess. He squeezed her hand.

"I'm... I'm glad," he whispered.

She smiled. "Angel," she whispered. "Come forth."

The room lit up with a white light as World of Elegance emerged from within the Norn's soul and floated upward.

Nyd looked at the black and white angel in shock. "Oh, Urd," he breathed as World of Elegance floated down and caressed his face. "She's beautiful..."

Urd gave it a moment before clearing her throat expectantly.

"Huh?" he asked, snapping out of his shock. "Oh... I'm... I'm sorry..." He cleared his throat. "Haud Vulnero, come forth."

The room lit up a second time as Nyd's angel appeared over them. Haud Vulnero's snow white wings emerged from a white-cloaked figure whose face was obscured by a hood. The angel looked away nervously.

"He's a little shy," Nyd confessed in embarrassment.

"Your angel? Shy?" Urd asked with a forgiving smile. "I never would have guessed."

Much like Urd had done, World of Elegance took the initiative, approaching the other angel and taking his head in her hands, pulling his gaze toward her in much the same way Urd had done when she had told Nyd to look at her in the restaurant.

World of Elegance reached up and pushed the hood back, revealing Haud Vulnero's long brown hair and hazel eyes. Again the angel averted his gaze only to have World of Elegance guide it back to her before leaning forward and brushing her lips against his. Vulnero's hand came up and cupped the angel's chin as they kissed.

Below them, Urd and Nyd shut their eyes as their minds and souls began to mix. Her hands squeezed his tighter as the two angels embraced and circled slowly above them.


	18. More Than We Bargained For

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 18**_

_**More Than We Bargained For**_

* * *

**"You had a bad day once, am I right? I know have. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything...changed."**

_The Joker_

_Batman: The Killing Joke_

* * *

The highest god or goddess of each department was present, ringing the monolith that passed on the Almighty's will. As one, they bowed to it as the runes carved into it began to glow.

"THE MARKET IS DOWN ANOTHER TEN POINTS," it rumbled deeply. "FAITH AMONG ALL BEINGS IS WANING."

As the Almighty's archangel and chief of staff, it was Michael's place to speak on their behalf. "We are working on ways to restore that faith," he told the Almighty. "More than that, we must find a way to counter whatever plan Hild is following."

"She is using rampant gods," Lind spoke up from Michael's right. "Using their angels to kill the angels of other gods, placing that god in a coma-like state, a death within life. It does not trigger Doublet, but it does sap hope from others."

"What do you suggest we do?" Shasiel, the head of Heaven's intelligence arm, asked.

"Remove the advantage," Lind said simply. "I move we suspend the Doublet System and force Hild to choose between backing off or engaging in a costly war she cannot win outright."

The other gods and goddesses balked at this.

"Hild has placed her forces on alert," Shasiel reminded her. "The moment Doublet is withdrawn, she will attack."

"I'm aware of that," Lind told her. "I am also aware that if we do nothing, she will slowly bleed us to death."

"You say it would be a war Hild cannot win," another goddess broke in. "Are you certain of that? Thus far the Combat Division has been unable to stop a mere three of her agents..."

"Rampants," Lind reminded her tartly. "A form of enemy that has always been more dangerous than any Hellrider. They're dangerously unpredictable. That these three _chose_ to fight on Hild's behalf is... unfortunate. But their strength comes only from our own weakness of heart."

"A WAR FOUGHT NOW WOULD COST MILLIONS OF LIVES," the Almighty rumbled. "AND THROW CREATION INTO CHAOS."

"Yes, Lord," Lind agreed. "Wars have a tendency to do that."

Several of the gods and goddesses looked appalled at her glib statement. The Almighty paid it no mind.

"IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO RESTORE FAITH, TO RALLY CREATION AROUND A SYMBOL. BUT IT MUST BE DONE BEFORE THAT SYMBOL DESCENDS COMPLETELY INTO DARKNESS."

"What symbol?" Michael asked.

"BELLDANDY."

The gods and goddesses said nothing. The fate of the middle Norn was still hazy.

"EIR, COME FORTH."

Heaven's Surgeon General and top healer stepped forward.

"I HAVE A MISSION YOU MUST CHARGE TO YOUR SON," the Almighty told her.

The elder goddess bowed and awaited the Lord's command.

888

Urd let out a long breath and closed her eyes, holding onto the last vestiges of rapture from their joining. Above her, World of Elegance and Haud Vulnero floated in each other's arms.

She'd had no idea. She never would have imagined it could be like that. He had seen all of her, every part of her soul, light and dark, displayed and hidden. No man had and no man could ever know her as well as he did now.

And she knew him. She had seen it all. Layer upon layer of person, of perspective, of emotion. In the space of a few moments she had seen a man who had placed service to others above his own desires and the loneliness that had resulted. A man whose life was ruled by his insecurities in one half and his dedication to others in the other.

Urd's layer of shields, the bluster, the arrogance, the walls of self-confidence had all crumbled before the pairing. He saw her as she was and had always truly been. He had seen her insecurities from her mixed heritage, heard the insults from "pure" goddesses as she had heard them. He saw her first disastrous meeting with her angel, saw her cry alone in her room afterward and yearned to bring her comfort.

He had also seen the last two years of her life, trying to push her sister and Keiichi closer together. Ostensibly, it was for her sister's own good. It was only later that she had realized she had been living vicariously through Belldandy, wishing that a good man could love her like that and _knowing_ deep in her soul it was impossible.

As their souls united together, his spirit held hers, told her how beautiful her soul truly was. She had heard people, Frigga, Belldandy, say those words before, but for the first time she believed it. She could see his spirit, see the sincerity.

See how much he loved her.

He had tried to pull back when she stumbled on that, but she held on tightly, refusing to let him go, forcing the feeling out of the shadows and into the light.

She let the breath out slowly and turned her eyes toward him. He was staring up at the ceiling in a state of gentle shock.

"I... always knew it was something special," he whispered, still looking at the two angels floating near the ceiling. "But... only from a clinical perspective. I never knew..."

She leaned over and kissed him as World of Elegance mimicked her overhead. "I... I know," she stammered. The act had done what she once thought was impossible. It had left her speechless. She swallowed. "Nyd..." She was about to ask if he really felt that way but knew the question itself was stupid. She had seen the answer reflected in his own thoughts and feelings.

And he had seen hers, feelings he hadn't want to admit even to herself just yet.

He turned to her, and above them Haud Vulnero went on the offensive, taking World of Elegance in his arms and kissing her. "Urd, I need to ask you something," he said.

"Okay," she whispered, still rattled.

Nyd bit his lip nervously but rallied. The time for nervousness was past. "Look," he said quietly. "This has nothing to do with the Pairing right now, okay?" He took a breath. "Marry me."

Her eyes went wide. Even during their joining, she hadn't seen that coming. "Marry you?"

He nodded. "I... I understand if you say no," he said. "But after last night, I know there will never be a woman I'll know better or who'll know me the way you do... and... to be honest... I don't want another woman to know me like that."

"You're serious?" she asked incredulously. Above her, World of Elegance looked down at her and blinked.

Nyd shifted in bed and turned, taking her hands. Urd, taken aback by this sudden boldness, said nothing. "I'm in love with you," he said. "I don't know the first thing about women, Urd," he said truthfully. "But what we shared last night just cemented the fact that... well..." He stalled but went on the attack again a moment later. "... That I want a goddess like you to always be at my side."

He looked away again, embarrassed by the words but proud of them at the same time, knowing how much she had wanted someone to say them to her and mean them.

Her breath caught in her throat, knowing those words weren't empty ones. "You know how much trouble those words cause?" she asked, smiling as she stalled for time.

"Yeah," he answered. "I do. And... and I don't care."

"Nyd..." Her mouth opened and closed twice without a sound coming out. She looked up at her angel, who gave her a look and a "go on!" gesture before turning back to Haud Vulnero. It appeared that World of Elegance wasn't about to give up her new paramour.

Urd thought for several moments, taking the time to go back to what she had learned during their joining, seeking for some truth to follow. She closed her eyes and smiled, leaning forward to embrace him.

"Do my eyes really shine?" she asked.

"Yes," he breathed.

"And does my hair really remind you of moonlight reflected off a still lake at night?"

"Yes," he said again as she brought her lips closer to his.

"And do you really love me?"

"Yes," he whispered.

Her stepmother's words came back to her. "And will you love me for the rest of your life?"

"Oh, yes," he said as her lips caught his.

World of Elegance smiled and turned back to Vulnero, who was caressing her wings.

As their lips parted, she smiled. "Okay."

888

Metheus entered Hild's quarters and bowed. "Your Majesty," he greeted.

Hild's grin promised nothing good as she approached him. "Inquisitor, good. I believe you know my daughter." She gestured to the goddess standing nearby.

He nodded to her in greeting. "Princess."

"Mr. Wynn," she replied.

The demon didn't bother correcting her. "How may I be of service?" he asked.

Hild gestured theatrically. "By an amazing crossing of stars, we are presented with an opportunity to accomplish several goals at once," she began. "My daughter here needs to be taught Elements of Hatred and Punishing the Wicked concurrently, and you... my good and loyal Inquisitor... require punishing."

If Hild expected him to blanch or start with fear, she was disappointed. "I see," he said. "I am to be teacher and subject then?"

The demoness grinned. "Indeed." She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Once complete, you and I will be square and we can once again have the kind of close working relationship we've come to enjoy."

"Very well," he said.

"I...I don't understand," Belldandy spoke up.

Hild turned to her. "I'm sorry, Belldandy, I forget that you're not used to the way things work down here. Our good Lord Inquisitor here is going to teach you to hate him... which should be rather easy given your history..." She smiled. "And then he's going to teach you to torture him as he tortured your Keiichi."

Belldandy turned white.

Hild clapped her hands together. "Everyone wins! Isn't it wonderful?"

888

Peorth growled as she fiddled with the limiter on her ear, trying to get a good look at it in the bathroom mirror and failing to find an angle that would allow her see it clearly.

Growling again, she slapped the sink in frustration. If she couldn't move around, she couldn't find Belldandy, and turning Wynn was going to take longer than she had hoped. The rampant god was simply too entrenched to believe he could come back.

A knock came at the door and fear gripped her as her head whipped toward the sound. Approaching the door cautiously, she cleared her throat.

"Yes?"

"I would speak with you," a voice from the other side rumbled.

She swallowed. It wasn't as if she really had a choice. She was a prisoner and unless that was Belldandy with a really bad cold on the other side of the door, then the person knocking wasn't.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and looked up...

...and up.

Krieg looked down at her, his face betraying no emotion whatsoever.

"Um... Can I help you?" Peorth asked.

"Come with me," he ordered.

888

"I have something that will assist you with this," Metheus told Belldandy in a business-like voice as he led her into an interrogation room similar to the one in which he had tortured her Keiichi.

He went to a gilded box sitting on a table at the far wall and opened it.

"This doesn't bother you?" Belldandy asked.

Metheus half-turned to her. "What does?" he asked.

"M... Hild," she corrected herself. "Has ordered you to allow me to torture you... That doesn't disturb you?"

"Princess," he said formally, "Her Majesty has asked me to teach you two very important things for a demon to know. As her High Inquisitor, it is my honor to do so."

"But... How can you be so casual about it?" she asked in a haunted whisper.

He looked at her, a gold necklace in his hands. "Because when we are done here, I will be as I was before. You, however, will be changed."

She swallowed at this, and he approached her. "This is a focusing collar," he told her, leaning over and hanging the necklace around her neck. "It will focus your emotions into physical actions."

"Like what?" she asked, fingering the necklace.

He took a step back and regarded her carefully. "Punishing the wicked is a solemn responsibility," he told her. "To do it properly, one must be capable of hating the hate-worthy."

"No one should be hated," she replied.

"No?" he asked. "Three levels down we have a mortal who killed six million people because they worshipped a different interpretation of the Almighty." He circled her. "He rounded them up... men... women..." He whispered into her ear. "... children... He had them shipped in train cars like cattle to camps where they were separated and systematically exterminated. You can't hate him?"

Belldandy tried to remember why she was there. It was not to debate. On the other hand, if she was going to learn, she needed to understand, so she answered truthfully.

"No," she said honestly. "He should be forgiven."

"If he was forgiven, he wouldn't have been sent here," he replied, still circling. "So if not a butcher of millions, who does, then, deserve Belldandy's hatred?"

"No one," she said.

"Not even me?" he asked.

She paused.

"You know where we are?" he whispered. "It was right there, in that corner that I burned the flesh off his arm..." He took a few steps away, leaving Belldandy to stare at the corner.

Belldandy bit her lip, trying very hard to forgive Metheus for the act he referenced. The demon, meanwhile, knelt in that corner and looked at her. "Of course, you saw it," he said. "And did nothing. You couldn't smell it from your cell, but if you've ever burnt bacon on the stove, it's kind o..."

He suddenly hit the wall, gasping in pain as some invisible forced slammed into his chest like a sledgehammer.

Belldandy covered her mouth with her hands as the demon caught his breath. "Not a bad start," he rasped, coughing. "For a beginner."

The goddess shook in her shoes. "What happened?" she asked.

"You punished me," he told her, rising again to his feet. "Your hatred was channeled through the collar and became a physical force."

"Take it off!" she demanded.

"I am your instructor in this," he told her. "And the collar will not be removed until I am ready to sign you off on this block of instruction."

She glared at him, trying vainly to reel back her anger.

"Now, shall we continue?"

888

The behemoth, Krieg, was apparently the tech-savvy member of Metheus's posse, as it took him only a few moments to disable the limiter on Peorth's ear, allowing her to follow him toward his quarters in the Doldrums.

He hadn't gone into detail of what he needed from her, only that he needed to speak to a goddess.

Krieg stopped outside an apartment and opened the door, beckoning her to precede him inside. Cautiously, Peorth went into the room, wary of a trap. What she found stunned her.

Three goddesses lay in three separate beds, surrounded by flowers. Two of them she recognized as fellow granters at the Earth Help Center. She rushed to their sides.

"Yasmina?!" she whispered, trying to gently slap the goddess awake. "Yasmina?!" She turned to the other. "Han Ba?!"

She turned back to Krieg. "Why are they here?! What are you doing to them?!"

"I'm caring for them," he rumbled as he shut and locked the door.

Peorth swallowed and turned back to the goddesses, wondering how far Krieg took 'caring for them.'

"I did this to them," he confessed. "I believe it is my responsibility to care for them."

She blinked at him and looked into his eyes, finding sincerity there, but also guilt and regret in equally large portions. Metheus might not be ready to turn, but Krieg might...

"What do you need from me?" she asked.

"You know them," he rumbled. "I care for them as best I can, but I do not know important things that would make them comfortable. Do they like these flowers, for instance?"

Peorth bit her lip. "Yasmina preferred daisies," she told him.

He growled. "I see. I shall acquire some."

"What else?" she asked, eager to help and by doing so forge a connection with the larger god.

"They are still in the clothing they wore when they were captured," he told her. "Some of their garments were damaged or sullied in the fight, but out of respect to their modesty... I have not removed them."

Peorth actually smiled at the statement. "A gentleman, non?" she asked. "If you have garments for them, I can change them for you."

He seemed relieved at this. "I thank you. I will bring them."

Peorth watched him go into the other room and bit her lip. Yes, Krieg was definitely the weak link in this arrangement.

And with his technical skills, perhaps things weren't as hopeless as she thought.

888

Metheus struck the wall, gasping as he tried to endure the pain running through his body.

"Stop this! Please!" Belldandy begged, falling to her knees.

The pain eased, and the demon-god fell to the floor. He gasped for a moment before turning a disapproving eye toward her. "Come on," he gasped out. "Put your back into it!"

He climbed to his feet and stood over the goddess who was weeping on her knees before him. Taking her by the shoulders, he lifted her bodily off the ground and pinned her to the wall.

"Look at yourself," he growled. "Crying like a baby because for once you're being forced to get your hands dirty! Creation's a dirty place, Princess. You'll come to realize that as we have."

She shook her head, but no words emerged from her.

"Tabitha told me you were the same way barely an hour into breaking your boyfriend," he snarled. "You didn't fight. You didn't beg. Hild's left tit, you didn't even have the force of will to give up! You just sat there and cried and let a man like me flay the skin from Keiichi's body..."

The next moment he was flying across the room, his back striking the wall and falling to the ground. He stood up and frowned at her.

"This?" he asked. "This is how much you love your boyfriend?" he demanded. "So much that you can't even summon enough hatred to do more than throw me across the room?" He took a step toward her and saw steel flash over her eyes, just for a moment. "I'm not some little demon second class who turned him into a scooter," he continued. "I made him regret ever hearing your _name_!" he growled.

Pain ran up his body like lightning. He cried out in agony for more than a minute before hitting the ground. Above him, Belldandy covered her face with her hands.

He lay there for several moments before shakily rising to his feet again. "And you just sat there... crying," he whispered.

"Please, I beg you," she wept.

"He must hate you for that," he said. "You see, Princess, there was strength in him. He would have let me beat him for the rest of his life to keep you safe..."

She was crying in earnest now.

"And you caved first," he went on. "You turned his sacrifice into failure. You failed him."

Electricity ran up his body, and he howled in pain, falling to the ground again.

"You failed," he croaked through the pain, and was rewarded with a renewed blast of dark, spiteful energy.

888

Skuld sat on the hotel roof, her cell phone to her ear. Having a private conversation at the temple was hard enough. In a hotel with her mother and sister it was practically impossible.

And she _needed_ to have a private conversation.

"Any news on your sister or your friend?" Sentaro asked.

"No," she said quietly into the phone. "Nothing yet."

"That sucks," he replied. "What about the police? What are they doing?"

Skuld bit her lip, wanting to tell him why the police weren't going to be able to help here. "No," she finally said. "They don't know anything."

He was silent for a moment. "Hey, Skuld," he said. "You know... if you need anything... Well, you can just call. You know that, right?"

She felt her heart skip a little at the sentiment. "Yeah," she said. "Thanks."

"Hey, you... um... want me to come over?" he asked.

Skuld wasn't listening anymore. Her attention had shifted to a black-clad figure on the roof of the building across the street.

"Hey, Skuld? You there?"

She dropped the cell phone and dug around in her pocket until she pulled out a pair of her patented micro-binocs. Placing the device to her eyes, she zoomed in on the figure and found the person's face obscured by a pair of binocs looking into a window several floors below.

But the red and black hair was good enough for Skuld.

She grabbed up the phone again. "I gotta call you back!" she said, hanging up before he could reply.

The goddess started for the stairs.

888

Frigga looked over the daily dispatches from the Yggdrasil mainframe, searching for any mention of Belldandy or Peorth. So far nothing, but the market had dropped another 10 points and some of the elder gods were even calling for a no-confidence vote in Michael. Things in Heaven were starting to turn from bad to worse.

She looked up from her holotop as Urd and Nyd entered the living room. Smiling, the queen closed the computer.

"Good morning, dears," she said. "Did you have a good night?"

Urd ignored the prod and took a breath. "Frigga," she said. "We have something to tell you."

"Oh?" she asked. "And what is that, hon?"

The Norn cleared her throat and took a breath, fully aware that this was as much an admission of defeat as well as wonderful news. She wasn't quite sure which it was more.

"Nyd and I... are getting married," she announced regally.

Frigga looked nonplused. "Yes, I know, hon. I told you last week, remember?"

Urd's face fell. "No, Frigga," she bit out in annoyance. "I mean he asked me, and I said yes... You know... the way it's _supposed_ to be done?"

"Oh! That's wonderful!" Frigga cried, clasping her hands together. "A little redundant, I admit..."

"Frigga!" Urd snapped. "This is where you're supposed to get all googily eyed and say something like, 'Ah! Congratulations! I'm sure you'll have a wonderful life together!' Could you just... forget the fact that you tried to force us together and be happy for us!?"

"But I am happy for you!" she cried with a smile. "So, so happy!" She stood up and kissed Urd and Nyd both on the cheek. "And you _will_ be happy together for the rest of your days!"

Urd sighed and smiled.

"But still, we could have simply done this a week ago when I first told you th..."

Urd's hands went to her temples. "I swear by all that's holy I..."

She trailed off as Nyd's arms wrapped around her and her frustration seemed to float away. He offered her a gentle squeeze of understanding, and she sighed in response.

"We _are_ going to get along well," she murmured.

"So!" Frigga announced, her tirade over. "Let's see the ring!"

"Ring?" Urd asked.

"Ring?" Nyd asked.

"Ring," Frigga confirmed.

They were silent for a moment.

"I have to go to the store," Nyd suddenly announced, starting for the doorway.

"Pick up eggs, son!" Frigga called after him. "He's such a nice boy."

Urd rubbed her temples.

888

Metheus reached up and grabbed the edge of the table, using it to lift himself shakily to his feet. Standing nearby, Belldandy was breathing hard, a look of pure misery on her face.

"Please stop," she begged in a whisper. "I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"Hurt me?" he asked. "Or hate me? Because it's obvious that you want both."

"I don't," she said, shaking her head. "I don't. I don't want to feel this way!"

He nearly fell to his knee, weak and weary from pain, but she wasn't ready yet, and so he knew he would have to soldier on until she was.

"A lie," he accused her. "You do want to feel this way, and you feel cheated by the fact that you've never been allowed to express such things before."

"No," she whispered.

"I've read the reports," he said, leaning against the wall. "How many times has that mortal tried to take Keiichi from you?"

"She... Sayoko is merely misguided," Belldandy made excuses for the girl.

"And Marller?" he asked. "Are you telling me whenever she threatened Keiichi's life you felt nothing?"

"Nothing?" she asked.

He staggered toward her. "Do you not care at all?" he asked her. "When a demon threatens him, a delicate mortal whose life can be snuffed out, you feel nothing?"

That wasn't true. She did feel anger, but she didn't hate Marller...

"Hatred can give you strength," he told her. "It can focus your mind on your objective, give you a strength of will you wouldn't normally have. It can make you hurt people who need to be hurt."

"I don't hate you," she whispered.

"You do," he told her. "Your actions prove it."

She looked away.

"Do you know what the best part of hurting Keiichi was?" he asked her.

"Be silent," she whispered.

He ignored her. "It was that last bit, with the water," he went on.

"Be silent!" she hissed angrily.

"I didn't just hurt him," he told her quietly, taking another step toward her. "I took his manhood. I reduced him to a weeping sack of fear..."

"Be silent!" she growled, the steel and fire returning to her eyes as she faced him.

He brought his face within a foot of her own and smiled. "No matter what happens," he whispered. "He'll never be the man he once was, that you once knew. I changed him _forever_."

"BE SILENT!" she screamed.

The demon was suddenly lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall on Belldandy's right. A moment later, he was thrown to the other wall, some invisible force slamming his head into the steel over and over again.

"BE SILENT! BE SILENT! BE SILENT!" she shrieked, falling to her knees. "YOU HURT HIM! YOU HURT _HIS SOUL!_"

He saw spots flash before his eyes as the force finally pressed him to the floor. He coughed blood and spat a gob of it onto the steel floor near him. Metheus looked up, half-expecting the weeping goddess to be there, but instead he found her glaring hatefully at him.

"Better," he croaked. "Much better."

She started to sob.

"Now, Belldandy, now you know hate."

"I hate you," she whispered. "I hate you for what you did to him."

He managed to bring himself up to his knees. "Go on," he commanded.

"I hate you for changing him," she whispered, her eyes shut painfully. "And I hate you for showing me this."

"And how does that hate change you?"

She opened her eyes, the blue orbs practically burning a hole into him. "You've sullied me," she bit out.

"I did?" he asked. "Or did you sully yourself?"

She grit her teeth and looked away.

"Look at me!" he commanded. She obeyed, and he continued. "You hate me, but you hate me righteously," he told her. "For things I've done. It's not a misplaced or empty hatred. Do you understand the importance? You don't hate me because I was born of a different house or that I'm a demon or even an enemy. You hate me because I've committed crimes against you and yours. Do you understand the difference?"

She took several deep breaths and tried to calm down.

"Speak!" he commanded.

Belldandy nodded.

"Do you want to kill me?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Then what?" he asked.

The goddess looked at him with shame-filled eyes alight with anger. "I want to hurt you," she sobbed. "I want to hurt you the way you hurt me, the way you hurt _him!_" She took a painful breath. "I want you to hurt..."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Go," he rasped. "Tell Hild you have passed both blocks."

She considered helping him up, but the idea evaporated in moments. She _wanted_ him to lie there in pain. The goddess felt shame well up in her again. How could she think that? What had they done to her?

_I'm one of them!_ she thought. _Almighty... Father... help me! I've become one of them! Please help me! I'm one of them! Please, Father! Please, help me! Please! Please! PLEASE!_

She wanted to help him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she turned and left the room.

Metheus fell to the floor and rolled onto his back.

888

Skuld slowly opened the roof door a crack and peered out. She could see the Hyatt across the street, but no sign of the woman. Doing her best to remain quiet, she pushed the door open and tip-toed outside.

The wind whipped over the roof, causing her hair to blow angrily to her left. She looked left and right, but couldn't see the woman she had seen before. She knew it had to be that woman Peorth had a fight with in the drugstore, but what was she doing spying on them?

_I should've told Mama,_ she thought. _Or at least stopped long enough to get Banpei to come with me._

The thought reminded her how alone she was up here. She started to turn back to the door when someone whispered.

"Knock knock."

Turning quickly back, she searched for the voice's owner, her eyes scanning the rooftop as her heart thudded fearfully in her chest.

Behind her, unbeknownst to the youngest Norn, a floating figure made of black smoke began to wrap its arms around her neck.

"Who's there?"


	19. Livin' On A Prayer

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 19**_

_**Livin' On A Prayer**_

* * *

**"Your soul is cavern of lies!"**

_The Omega AI_

_Red Vs. Blue_

* * *

"Oi! Nyd san!"

The healer turned and saw a familiar brunette heading his way. "Ms. Megumi! How are you?" he asked with a smile, still floating on his good mood.

Megumi pushed her way through the busy market street to get to him. "Eh," she said with a shrug. "I'm doing better after our talk yesterday. Thanks for that."

"It's no problem, really," he told her. "I'm just glad I was able to help."

"You did," she said, falling into step beside him as they walked. "I still feel bad, you know?" she said. "I want to help Kei chan, but it seems like every time I try, he pushes me away."

Nyd frowned a bit. "Right now Keiichi feels like a failure," he said. "He doesn't want help, it only makes the feeling worse. The best thing you can do is just be there and be ready for when he finally asks."

She smiled. "I guess you're right. So what brings you out here?" she asked, eager to change the subject.

His smile lit up the street. "I'm looking for an engagement ring," he told her.

"For who?!" she asked, incredulous.

"Urd."

"Really?!" Megumi asked, smiling. "That's great, Nyd! Um... you think she'll say yes?" she asked skeptically.

"She already has," he told her.

"Really?" she asked. "Wow. But that's great!" she added. "Have you found one yet?"

"No," he admitted. "I'm not quite sure where to start."

She grabbed his arm. "Come on! I know a local jeweler who owes me a favor. He'll steer you right."

Megumi dragged the young god two blocks down the street into a small jewelry store run by an elderly man with white hair and horn-rimmed glasses.

"Ah, Megumi chan!" he greeted her. "What brings you here this morning?"

She pushed Nyd forward. "My friend here needs an engagement ring," she told him. "I told him you were the guy to go to."

"Oh, well, let's see what we have here," he said, pulling a tray from the display case and resting it before him.

Nyd looked over the rings, each were beautiful and elegantly made.

"This is the good stuff," the jeweler told him. "There are more expensive rings, of course, but you're a friend of Megumi's, and these are perfectly made by a friend of mine in Germany. Simply elegant."

The healer examined each one, imagining each on his fiance's finger, and stopped at one made of white gold that was almost the exact same shade as her hair.

"This one is beautiful," he said.

The jeweler handed it to him to examine. "A half-carat, round cut diamond," he told him. "The stone itself has a very high rating, as near to flawless as you can get."

Nyd blinked at the ring, thoroughly entranced by it. "I'll take it," he said.

"Splendid choice, my friend," the jeweler said. "Cash or charge?"

The healer paused. "Oh," he said slowly. He didn't have any local currency. He kicked himself for the error. "Will you take a trade?" he asked, an idea suddenly coming to him.

"A trade?"

Nyd reached up and unclipped a pin from the left side of his shirt. He held it out to the jeweler. "It was given to me when I completed my trials," he explained. At the jeweler and Megumi's questioning looks, he corrected himself. "Er... Med school," he said.

The jeweler examined the piece. It was an inch-high Wand of Hermes made of gold and tipped with rubies. He took a look with a hearts and arrows scope and blinked.

"My friend," he said sadly. "I can't trade you this," he said.

Nyd's face fell. "Why not? Is it not valuable enough?"

"You misunderstand," the jeweler went on. "This pin is probably worth six of those rings. If you weren't Megumi's friend, I admit, I'd make the trade and close early today, counting myself lucky. But I couldn't cheat you like that. I don't even have enough cash on hand to pay you what it's worth."

"I don't mind," Nyd said. "That's the ring I want for Urd."

"Can you come maybe close to what it's worth?" Megumi asked.

The jeweler sighed. "I could give you about half," he said truthfully. "Another jeweler might..."

"I'll take it," Nyd said.

"Nyd," Megumi whispered. "That's a lot of money you're giving up..."

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I'll take it."

"Tell you what, my friend," the jeweler said. "I'll throw in some matching earrings and a necklace. That should bring the trade closer to even."

Nyd glanced at Megumi. "You want anything?" he asked.

"Who me?" she asked. She thought for a moment. "That's kind of nice," she said, pointing at a diamond choker.

"And that," Nyd said.

"Done."

888

Tamiya opened the front door and arched an eyebrow at the face that met him on the other side.

"Is Morisato kun here?" Sayoko asked.

The muscular head of the Auto Club folded his arms over his chest. "You know this dorm is off limits to women," he said. "It's a place of zen where members of the Auto Club can meditate on the meaning of transaxels, the Tao of rear differentials, all free from the distractions that temptations of the opposite sex can present..."

She held up a check. "I brought a donation to your club."

"Right this way, Miss!" he said, moving aside. He plucked the check from her fingers as she walked inside. "I believe Morisato is upstairs. Room two-oh-three."

"Thank you," she said regally, showing herself upstairs. Finding the correct door, she knocked on it and waited.

"Just a sec," a tired voice called. The door opened, and a disheveled looking Keiichi stood there.

"Sayoko?" he asked, blinking. "How did you get past Senpai?"

"I knew the secret password," she said with a wink. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, make yourself at home," he said, making way for her. He turned away for a moment, his tank-top allowing her to see a hint of the scars on his back. "What can I do for you?"

She paused. Sayoko had heard about his injuries, but she didn't think... She pushed the thought aside. "Belldandy," she said plainly.

His face pinched, but he didn't respond angrily like he had with Aoshima the day before. "What about her?" he asked.

"I want to know where she really is," Sayoko told him. "May I sit down?" she asked.

"Of course," he said.

She sat at the small kotatsu table and took a breath. "I've heard a lot of rumors," she said. "And my cousin told me all about how he beat you up yesterday..." She smiled at his expression. "Don't worry," she told him. "It's hard for him to spread that rumor with a giant bandage on his nose. Besides, the rest of the school is buzzing about how you 'defended Belldandy's honor.'"

He didn't say anything about the fight. As far as he was concerned it was over. "And?" he prompted.

"And none of it adds up," she said. "If the rumors are true, then Belldandy left you..." She paused. "But if that were the case, you wouldn't be angry. You'd be a puddle of weeping mush on the floor. But at the same time, if she's visiting family back home, why is her mother in town?" She leaned back and tapped her chin in thought. "Mysterious."

"Why do you want to know?" he asked.

Sayoko straightened regally. "I am her rival," she said simply. "If she's given up on pursuing the title of Queen of Nekomi, I need to know. If she left because you dumped her, I want to know. And if she's gone for good..." She broke off. "Well... I thought maybe..." She looked away.

"She's just away for awhile," he told her. "It's a private thing, but she's coming back."

"I see," she said. "And you?"

"What about me?" he asked.

"Did she break up with you?" she asked, cocking her head.

"No," he told her sadly.

"But you're not together either..."

888

Belldandy walked as quickly as the midnight blue dress would let her, even to the point of forcing her Elites to rush after her as she left the interrogation room.

She didn't want to see Hild right then. She couldn't. She wanted to see Keiichi, _needed_ to see him.

The goddess had just seen a side of herself she couldn't believe even existed. Subconsciously or not, her hatred of Wynn had nearly killed him. She had _tortured_ him as he taunted her.

That stain on her soul was getting bigger, dirtying her with ever small step forward she made toward demonhood. She needed to know it was worth it. She needed to know the light of Keiichi's love.

She entered the viewing room and tapped the glass orb, expecting to see Keiichi with Urd or his sister.

The goddess blinked as an image of her boyfriend and Sayoko appeared.

"Sayoko san?" she whispered.

The other student was standing up and approaching Keiichi confidently. She wished she could hear what they were talking about...

888

"It's obvious that _something_ happened," Sayoko told him as she faced him. "Some break-ups aren't caused by dumping. Did she get a job offer? Move to a new school?"

"Nothing like that," he said.

"Then what?" she asked.

He paused. "I can't go into it..."

"I see," she said. "Keiichi, I know we've had problems in the past, but I just want you to know... If you need anything..." She reached up to caress his face. "A shoulder to cry on..."

Keiichi snagged her wrist in his left hand a moment before she could touch him. She glanced down and saw the burn scars on his arm.

"No," he whispered, swallowing. "Thank you, I really appreciate the sentiment," he said. "But no."

He released her hand, and she cleared her throat. "I see," she said, turning and walking toward the open window. "Still can't win, can I?" she asked with a wry smile.

Keiichi turned away nervously to open the door for her, a subtle hint for her to leave. Sayoko saw this and took a step toward it...

But her foot never touched the floor. She gasped quietly as something she couldn't see shoved her out the window.

888

Belldandy covered her mouth in horror as Sayoko flew out the window. She watched, puzzled, as Keiichi turned back and started frantically looking for her. Had they been attacked by a demon? Was she merely an illusion? What...

Her eyes widened in horror as she looked down at her chest.

_I'M STILL WEARING THE COLLAR! _her mind screamed at her.

She looked up and saw Keiichi run to the window, looking over the edge.

_Oh no! Oh no! No! No! No! No! No! NO! NO! __**NO! NO!**_

The goddess stood there, horrified, as she watched.

_I did it!_ her mind whispered. _I saw her try to touch Keiichi, and I... I..._

She shut her eyes, unable to watch anymore.

888

"KEIICHI!"

The college student looked out the window and found Sayoko holding onto the sill for dear life.

"HELP ME!" she screamed again.

The boy leaned down and grabbed her hand. "Hold on!" he shouted.

"DON'T LET GO! DON'T LET ME GO!" Sayoko shrieked in fear.

"I got ya!" he called as he pulled her up. "I got ya! It's okay!"

He pulled her high enough for her to get a foot-hold, and the young woman clambered back into the room, sobbing hysterically as she clung to Keiichi.

"It's okay," he whispered. "You're all right. It's all right."

As she cried, he looked over his shoulder at the door and out the window, looking for Urd, the only goddess he could think of who detested Sayoko enough to do something like that. It was a sickening prank... and he had to admit that even Urd wouldn't do something so reckless.

"It's okay," he said again as she sobbed, but his thoughts were elsewhere. First the truck, now this. Could the System Force be wonky? Maybe Belldandy leaving had thrown it out of gear or something, he didn't know.

One thing was for sure. Something was going on here.

888

She couldn't make out what it was that grabbed her. All she knew was that one moment she was on the roof, looking for whoever had whispered to her, and the next she was hanging in the hair by her ankle, screaming.

Skuld saw someone step into view and regard her carefully.

"You're Peorth's little sister, aren't you?" the tiger-striped woman asked.

Swinging upside down, Skuld had to wait for her inverted brain to catch up to what the woman had said. "No, I'm her friend," she said.

"So am I," Miranda said, taking a step toward her.

"Yeah, because Peorth always throws her friends into make-up racks!" Skuld bit back.

The former valkyrie smiled. "Let her down," she said.

Skuld squeaked as whatever held her let her go and she hit the rooftop with a grunt. "Hey!" she cried, turning to it and gasping in shock at what she saw.

It appeared to be made of smoke but in the figure of a woman. White, voluminous wings billowed from her back and a pair of glowing green eyes tracked her.

"What's your name?" Miranda asked her.

"Skuld," she replied. "Who are you?"

"My name is Miranda," the freelancer replied. She nodded to the creature. "My angel, Shadow of Intent."

The Norn swallowed. "Hi," she said with a nervous wave to the angel.

Shadow of Intent replied by floating over to Miranda and merging with the older goddess.

"So what are you doing spying on us, huh?" Skuld asked with false bravado.

"I need to speak to Urd," Miranda told her.

"We're in the book," Skuld bit out. "Ever hear of a phone?"

"Ever hear of a tap?" Miranda countered. "The Grigori are probably watching your hotel, and we don't get along."

"What do you want with Urd?" Skuld asked suspiciously.

Miranda knelt so she was eye-level with the girl. "I need her to come see me. Alone."

Skuld folded her arms over her chest. "And why would she want to do that?" she asked.

Miranda smiled. "Because I can help her save your sister and Peorth."

888

Nyd took a breath before swiping his key card and stepping back into the hotel room, the small, velvet box clutched tightly in his hand.

He smiled brightly, finding Urd and Frigga sitting at the breakfast table. Frigga smiled in return.

"Ah, you're back," she said. "Did you get the eggs?"

His face fell. "Eggs! Blast!" he hissed to himself.

Urd stood up and walked up to him. "Forget the eggs, Nyd," she said. "Hello."

"Hi," he replied as Urd leaned in for a kiss. A moment later they parted, and he cleared his throat. "Um... I got you something," he said, holding up the box.

She arched an eyebrow and gave him a gentle, but sarcastic smile. "Gee, I wonder what it could be."

He blushed a bit at the joke. Recovering, he started to drop to one knee, but Urd's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Wait," she said quickly.

He blinked up at her in puzzlement. "Um... 'Wait?'" Ice filled his veins. Had she changed her mind? Was he not doing this right?

She bit her lip. "Nyd... we can't do this yet."

"Huh?"

"What?!" Frigga asked, rising to her feet.

"I don't feel so good," Nyd said.

Urd took him by the arms to keep him from fainting. "No, it's not what you think!" she cried. "I said yes, remember? That hasn't changed!"

"Then what?" Frigga asked.

The Norn turned to her stepmother, hoisting the healer up to his feet as she did so. "Because I want this to be done right," she said. "We're not all here. I want Belldandy to be here when this happens."

Frigga smiled sadly. "I see."

Nyd found his strength again and stood up. "I think that's a wonderful idea," he said. "Ms. Belldandy would want to be here."

Urd cleared her throat and turned to him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I keep jerking you around."

He smiled. "It's okay," he said, raising the box. "I'll just hold onto this until then, okay?"

She nodded and leaned in to kiss him, whispering to him as they parted. "Don't worry, we still get to sleep together."

Frigga sighed as the unconscious healer hit the floor.

888

Peorth took the tea cup from the hulking rampant and nodded in thanks. She gave Krieg an appraising look over her cup as she drank, wondering how much she should say. Finally, she decided she didn't have a prayer for success if she didn't take risks.

"You're not like the other two," she noted carefully.

"What do you mean?" he rumbled, sipping at his tea.

She swallowed and reminded herself over and over to tread carefully. "Wynn has changed. He has a cruel streak in him now," she said. "And your other friend..."

"Carestia."

"Carestia," she said, nodding. "She's a little..."

"Insane?" he asked.

"Un peu," she said, holding her fingers a half-inch apart.

He lowered his tea cup. "This place," he said. "Changes people. Darkens their spirits. It makes them believe that cruelty is the norm in Creation, and that by embracing it, they are fulfilling their true destinies."

"And you?" she asked.

Krieg turned his gaze on her. "I've seen enough killing to last an eternity already," he told her. "The more I see, the less purpose is evident. We were not regular soldiers, we were conscripts, not expected to survive. Meat shields..." He raised his head, and this time Peorth could see light in his eyes. "But there was a goddess," he told her breathlessly. "Who taught us to fight, to achieve victory through cunning and courage. She turned us around. Gave us hope. She was a _real_ soldier, a warrior. Not a killer for hire like what we have become."

"You really looked up to Miranda," she said.

His eyes locked onto her in amazement. "You know the Colonel?" he asked.

Peorth nodded. "She was at the temple," she told him quietly. "Wynn spoke to her."

"He told us nothing of this!" he gasped.

The love goddess wasn't sure how far to push this angle. Too much and it might spark a confrontation. She had to play this just right.

"I think Wynn was cautious," she said. "Protecting you." It was a true enough statement, no more than half a lie. "She claims she has a way to help you, to get you out of Hell and someplace safe. Where you wouldn't have to live like this anymore."

He rumbled in his throat, a very dangerous sound. "He said nothing to me..."

"As I said," she went on. "Wynn is suspicious. He fears a trap, but I know Miranda. I know she is sincere."

Peorth watched the behemoth as he tried to decide whose word he trusted more: Wynn's, Peorth's or possibly Miranda's. She looked on as he stood up and walked to the sleeping goddesses, regarding them sadly.

"I do not want to continue doing this to people," he told her. "But I will not abandon my comrades as Heaven abandoned us."

She stood up and placed a hand on his arm. "Then we need to get you _all_ out."

888

"Belldandy?" Hild called as she entered her daughter's room. "Are you here?"

She heard sniffling coming from the far corner and made for it. Sitting on the floor behind her bed was Belldandy, crying, her tears pooling in her hands.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Hild asked in a sympathetic voice, kneeling next to the woman and putting her arms around her. "It's all right. It can't be that bad."

Belldandy sniffled. "I... I almost killed her."

"Who?" Hild asked.

"Sayoko san," Belldandy replied. "I was in the viewing room... and... and I saw her... with Keiichi..."

"Keiichi cheated on you?" Hild asked incredulously. She hadn't pegged the Morisato boy for that...

"No," Belldandy said quickly. "Keiichi would never do that... But Sayoko... touched him...or tried to anyway... And I..."

"You what, child?" Hild prompted.

"I just felt... so... so _angry_," she said. "And the collar... I... I pushed her out the window," she whispered in a haunted voice.

"Shhhh," Hild hushed her, holding her close. "It's all right, Belldandy," she whispered. "You did the right thing..."

"The right thing?!" Belldandy cried in shock, pushing away from the demoness. "How... I..."

"You acted," Hild told her softly. "Someone threatened to come between you and your Keiichi, and you reacted."

"I could have killed her," Belldandy breathed.

"But you didn't," Hild told her. "And now that little slut won't _dare_ go near your Keiichi again. He's yours, your mate, and you claimed your rights... the rights of a lover and wife to avenge herself upon one who would take him from her."

Belldandy stared off into space, but did not argue.

Hild decided to change the subject. "I heard someone did very well in her lessons today," she said. "Lord Metheus has signed you off after one session. You suitably impressed him, it seems. I knew you would."

She took the goddess's head in her hands and pulled her gaze toward her. "You're so close, my Belldandy," she whispered happily. "So close."

"I don't feel well, Mother," Belldandy whispered distantly.

Hild hugged her again. "Oh, my Belldandy," she said. "Mother is here. My good girl, Mother is here."

"I want Keiichi," Belldandy whispered. "Where is Keiichi?"

"Soon, child. Soon," Hild promised. "In the meantime, I want you to see my personal Vector," she said. "I'm concerned for your health." She snapped her fingers, and one of her Elites entered the room. "The Elite will show you the way."

Hild helped the goddess up. Belldandy stared off into nothing, too shocked to question or resist.

"That's it," Hild whispered. "Go with him."

She watched as her adopted daughter left the room and smiled. Touching a jewel at her throat, she contacted her Vector.

"Vector," she said, "I'm sending my daughter to you for an examination. You may give her the good news." She smiled. "I think she's ready."

888

Frigga smiled at her stepdaughter and took her hands in her own. Nyd had excused himself a moment before, leaving the two goddesses alone for the moment.

"Oh, Urd, you're all grown up," she said proudly.

"Oh, god, are we really going to have _that_ conversation?" Urd asked with a depressed sigh.

"I'm just so happy for you," Frigga told her. "So happy and proud." The queen wiped a tear from her eye.

"Okay," Urd began, "I realize from the old fashioned perspective where a goddess's greatest value is in her ability to get married and have children, you must be thrilled," she said. "But I don't want you to think for one second that the Pairing you tried to push on me had _anything_ to do with this."

"Oh, no," Frigga said with a shake of her head.

"It happened because it was destined to," Urd told her.

"Of course..."

"I'm marrying Nyd because he's a good god with a pure heart who loves me."

"Just as it should be..."

Urd's eyes narrowed. "You're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?" she asked.

"Urd, honey, I'm my own hero right now."

The Norn sighed.

Before she could continue, the front door opened, and Skuld poked her head in. "Hey, um... Urd? Can I talk to you... out here... alone?"

"God, yes!" Urd cried, eager for any excuse to get away from the frustrating conversation with her stepmother. She followed Skuld out the door and down the hall. "What's going on?"

"Someone wants to talk to you," Skuld said. "A friend of Peorth's."

"Who?!"

"Not yet," Skuld whispered. "She said our place might be watched."

Urd blinked at such a paranoid statement, yet with everything else going on, was it really so far off?

Skuld led her out the front door of the lobby and across the street to a tall apartment building. Once they were in the elevator, Skuld turned to her.

"Her name is Miranda," she said. "And she says she can help us rescue Oneesama!"

"How?"

"She didn't say. Just that I needed to bring you to her."

Urd nodded and rolled up her sleeves, summoning a few lightning bolts to her fingertips.

"What are you doing?" Skuld asked.

"It sounds like a trick, Skuld," Urd told her.

"I don't think so," the young Norn told her. "It's kind of weird, but... I just don't think so..."

"Okay," Urd said, not convinced in the slightest. "If you say so."

The elevator doors parted, and Skuld led Urd down the hall to the last apartment before the emergency exit.

Skuld knocked twice and waited. The door opened, but there was no one there to greet them.

"She's a little shy," Skuld told Urd with an embarrassed wince.

"Great," Urd muttered, stepping carefully inside.

"Stop."

Urd came to a halt at the sound of the voice. "Hey, lady," she said. "You called _me_, remember?"

Miranda stepped out of the shadows of the corner of the room. "I'm sorry," she said. "But the valkyries have been making it harder for me to operate freely. I'm Miranda."

"My little sister tells me you can help us get Belldandy back," Urd prompted.

"Yes," she said. "In exchange for your help in extracting four others from Hell as well."

"Look, lady," Urd said. "I've actually been to the place. It's not exactly welcoming to visitors, invited or otherwise."

"I have an in," Miranda told her. "A way to get past the patrols on the Styx."

Urd arched an eyebrow. "That would be half the battle," she allowed. "Who are these people you want to get out?"

"Three rampant valkyries," she said. "And Peorth."

888

Peorth fingered the limiter on her ear as she sat on Metheus's bed. She was on her way. In thanks for helping him, Krieg had disabled her limiter while making it appear to still work. She just had to be careful where she went and when, but she was effectively free to move around.

She could turn Krieg back easily enough, she thought. Even though he believed he could never be a god again, he knew he didn't want to be a demon, and that was close enough. He was willing to leave, but only with the others.

That meant she had to turn Metheus and Carestia.

She didn't know Carestia, but from what she had seen and what Krieg had told her, she was so far gone, turning her back would be impossible. She liked what she was.

Or so that was the impression she gave people.

She looked up as the door opened and Metheus staggered inside.

"Wynn!" she gasped, jumping to her feet and grabbing hold of him. "What happened to you? Do you get beat up every day around here?!"

"It's part of the job," he grumbled painfully.

She helped him to the bed. "Who did this to you? Hild?"

"In a manner of speaking," he allowed. He waved her away as she brought a wet towel to him. "I'm fine," he said.

She offered him a wry smile. "Rough day at the office?" she asked.

He gave her an annoyed look. "It was worth it." The demon laid back against the pillow and closed his eye. "What did you do today?"

"Some reading," she lied. "Not a whole lot to do trapped in here."

"It's just until things have calmed down a little," he said.

"I see," she replied. "Still a prisoner then."

She wondered how far she could push him. It was dangerous, but she needed to know how far he had gone.

"Wynn," she said. "I want to see Belldandy."

"No," he replied instantly.

"You're the one who ripped her from her family," she hissed. "That means you owe it to _her_ to help her as much as you can!"

"I've helped enough," he bit out darkly.

"What does that mean?!" she asked.

He sat up and faced her, his face an inch from hers. "It means that she's already gone, Fleur," he hissed quietly. "The Belldandy you knew is gone. Hild owns her now. In ways you can't imagine. In another week she'll be out there stealing souls from schoolchildren and being thankful for the privilege."

"I don't believe that," Peorth told him firmly. "You don't know Belldandy. She's not like you! She can't be turned for a few empty promises!"

The hate in his glare made her step back a pace, but as fast as it appeared it was gone again.

"I don't have to justify myself," he said. "I do my job. Just like Belldandy."

Peorth watched as he laid back down and closed his eyes.

888

"Did you tell her?" Hild asked.

The Vector nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty, as you commanded. Also as you commanded, I let her know that you would be told as well."

The demoness smiled and reached out with her thoughts. Yes, right there. That's what she was looking for. That panicked, desperate, trapped feeling.

"What did she say?" Hild asked.

"Nothing, Your Majesty," the Vector told her. "She seemed rather... agitated."

She concentrated on the feelings rising from Belldandy's spirit from across the palace. She practically stank with fear.

"What shall I do now?" the Vector asked.

"Nothing," she said, rising from her throne. "It's my turn again."

888

Belldandy fought to control her breathing as she finally succumbed to the panic attack that had been threatening ever since Hild's physician had given her the news.

_What have I done?_ she asked herself again.

_You've damned your child..._

_No! No! I've done no such thing! I did what I needed to survive in this place!_

_Your daughter will be born a demoness..._

_No! I mean... yes, but... But it won't matter, because Keiichi and I will..._

_Assuming Hild lets her live..._

She fell to the stone floor of her room and grasped at the neck of her dress. She couldn't breathe.

What _would_ Hild do? The Vector told her he had to report it to her.

What could she do? Where could she go? Her soul was stained! She couldn't go back to Heaven, even if she could escape Hell. Her only hope had been being allowed to go to Earth, but now...

"H...Holy Bell..." she called. "I need you."

Her angel emerged from her back and floated around to face her. Belldandy looked up and started to cry.

Her angel, her beautiful Holy Bell, smiled sadly down at her, an angry red scar running from just below her left eye down to her chin. Her right eye was bruised and swollen shut.

Belldandy put her face in her hands and cried, howling, unable to stop the tears because she knew it had been her choices that had wounded her angel, her inner self so badly.

"BELLDANDY!"

She gasped in fear and looked up, instinctively crawling away from the sound even as Hild entered her room and stalked toward her.

The goddess, if she could even stand to call herself that anymore, shook her head desperately.

"Please!" she gasped out. "Please..."

Hild stormed up to her and knelt next to her, leaping forward and wrapping her arms around the goddess.

Belldandy blinked in surprise.

"I am so happy for you!" Hild squealed. When she pulled away, she was wiping a tear from her eye. "My first grandchild! Oh, I'm sorry! This isn't about me, it's about you and Keiichi and your new daughter! I'm sorry, I'm blubbering!" She sat back and blinked. "My mascara's running," she whimpered, pulling out a handkerchief. "I absolutely hate when that happens..."

She blinked and seemed to notice Belldandy's distress for the first time. "Belldandy? Hon? What's wrong?"

"You... You're not angry?" she asked breathlessly.

"Angry?! Are you insane, my love?! I'm declaring it a holiday!"

"But... I thought..."

"You speak as if this would not have happened eventually anyway," Hild said with a wink. "I admit, the timing is unexpected, but nevertheless a wonderful event." She blinked in puzzlement. "Why? What did you think I would do?"

Belldandy looked down at the floor. "I was afraid," she said. "That you would..."

Ire crossed the demoness's face. "You need not fear such a thing from me," she said. "Though it's fortunate we found out now and not after you left for Earth."

The goddess blinked. "Why?"

Hild looked troubled. She reached out and caressed her adopted daughter's hair, all the while giggling on the inside. "My daughter, Heaven will have a hard enough time allowing you to run free. Do you think they will tolerate a newborn demoness descended from the Almighty? It is good that we found out here and now!"

"They..." Belldandy sat there, blinking in disbelief. "That doesn't make sense. They wouldn't..."

"No?" Hild asked. "Ask Lord Metheus what they're capable of doing to their heroes when they stray off the reservation." She smiled. "But it doesn't matter. Because you're both safe. That is _my_ grandchild in there."

Her eyes glowed red with determination.

"And not even the Almighty will take that from us."


	20. Lie To Me

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG

**Choix**

_**Chapter 20**_

_**Lie To Me**_

* * *

**"Loyalty to petrified opinions never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul in this world — and never will."**

_Mark Twain_

* * *

"All right, we're here!" Frigga announced as she walked through the apartment door as if she owned it. She saw the strange goddess standing near the window and arched an eyebrow. "Who's your new friend?" she asked.

Nyd saw the dark aura around the woman and stood a little closer to Urd.

"This is Miranda," Urd said. "She's got a plan to get Belldandy out of Hell."

"A plan?" Nyd asked.

Miranda gave them a tight smile. "Unless you would like to see what Heaven's grand rescue plan is going to be?"

"Somehow I don't think we'll be impressed by it," Frigga said. "All right, let's hear it."

"Wait a sec," Urd said. "We're not all here yet."

"What do you mean?" her stepmother asked.

There was another knock on the door, and Urd went to answer it. She opened the door and found Keiichi standing there, checking the address on the door with a note he had written to himself.

"Come on," Urd urged, inviting him inside.

Nyd watched his fiancé in surprise. Urd seemed more animated now than she had in days. Whatever Miranda's plan was, it must have convinced the Norn that there was hope for success.

"Have a seat, let's get this party started," Urd told everyone.

They all took seats around the table and waited for the impromptu meeting to begin.

"So, like I said," Urd said. "This is Miranda, and as of this moment, none of you have ever heard of her, got it?"

Puzzled, they all nodded.

"Okay," Urd said. "Miranda, take it away."

The former valkyrie officer stepped forward. "I'm going to make you a deal," she said. "I'll help you get Belldandy out of Hell in exchange for you helping me get Peorth, Wynn, Elra and Basken out with her."

"And how are we going to do that?" Nyd asked. "If you don't travel through the official channels, which they control, you have to cross the Styx..."

"I have safe passage over the Styx," Miranda told them.

"How?" Frigga asked, her voice incredulous.

"That's not important right now," Miranda told her. "What is important is that I can get a small team over the border and into Hell _safely_. Once we're inside, that's where it gets tricky."

"But it is possible," Frigga said.

"Once inside, we have to sneak into the city, find Belldandy and the others, and exfiltrate out of the hardline nexus," Miranda said.

"I don't mean to bring pessimism to this," Nyd said tentatively. "But that plan sounds like suicide."

Miranda looked at the table. "It is," she confessed quietly. "I won't bullshit you. If I had a team of Helljumpers, air support from Heaven and sophisticated weapons and equipment, I'd give this plan a solid twenty percent chance of working."

"Yeah," Keiichi piped up from the far side of the table. "But not going at all has a zero percent chance. I'll take this."

"It'll be more dangerous for you, Mr. Morisato," Miranda told him. "I would recommend you stay."

He shook his head. "No," he said simply, and that was all. No argument, no debate. Just, "no," and a look that dared anyone to say otherwise.

Miranda nodded. "The advantage we do have is Urd," she said. "She's lived in the city. She knows the layout. Doctor Nyd has seen Belldandy's room, so he can draw us a map that we..."

"I'm going too," Nyd spoke up. He looked at the table and then back up at Miranda. "If Urd's going... I'm going too."

Urd smiled at him. Miranda didn't seem convinced.

"With respect," the valkyrie began, "This is a combat situation. What does a healer know of war?"

Nyd smiled ironically. "Only what the South African guerillas taught me."

Miranda arched an eyebrow. "Very well." She turned back to the table. "And before you ask, little sister, you're not going." Skuld blinked in shock and opened her mouth to argue. "No," Miranda cut her off. "No kids. That's my rule."

"But that's not fair!" Skuld cried.

"I'm sure it's not," Miranda told her.

"But I want to help!"

Miranda turned to her. "And so you will," she said. Skuld blinked. "You're a tech. I need a tech. Interested?"

"Um... Yeah, okay," Skuld said uncertainly.

"I need a jammer," Miranda told her. "Something that will keep Nidhogg off us while we move in. I'm also going to need a secure comm relay that will let us talk to each other without Nidhogg picking us up. And I'm going to need you to do something sneaky."

"Like what?" Skuld asked, beginning think going in to Hell would be easier than the tasks the valkyrie was passing to her.

"I need you to break into the Combat Division network."

"What?!" Skuld cried.

"It's the only way to get the most current intel on what's going on in Hell," Miranda told her. "I need aerial views. Communications intercepts. Schedules. This whole thing will be for nothing if we come across some patrol we weren't expecting."

Skuld bit her lip and nodded.

"Can you handle it?" Miranda asked.

"Yeah," Skuld whispered, nodding. She looked up at them all. "Yeah, I can do it."

"What else will we need?" Frigga asked.

"Too much," Miranda told her.

"Is there anything I can do?" Keiichi asked.

Miranda smirked. "Can you get me a few valkyries?" she asked sarcastically.

Keiichi thought for a moment. "I can get you _one._"

888

"I should report this to Commander Lind, you realize that?" Gaeriel growled as she swept the temple's front steps.

"You could," Keiichi told her simply. "You think I give a crap about what Lind has to say about it?"

Gaeriel sighed. "It's not the commander's fault, you know," she said. "She wants to help Belldandy too. But if the rest of Heaven's leadership doesn't budge, her hands are tied."

"Are yours?" he asked. He paused and lit a smoke, using the time to come up with an argument that might work. "Look," he said, "It's a long shot, and I mean a _real_ long shot. We've only got one valkyrie, just one. I mean, I'm no soldier, but even I know that's not enough. We need you, Gaeriel san."

She stopped sweeping. "It's a foolish plan," she said, shaking her head.

"Yeah," he agreed. "But it's a plan."

"You'll die," she told him seriously.

For some reason he couldn't explain, the statement made Keiichi pause. He was the only mortal in the group. He could die if a demon just looked at him hard enough.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, I'm probably going to die. But I'd rather die there doing _something_ to help her than stay here and do nothing. And I think you feel the same way."

Gaeriel took a breath.

"We need you," Keiichi said again. "Look, you do what you want to. I'm going to Hell."

With that, he turned and walked away from the temple, perhaps, he thought, for the last time.

888

Belldandy watched Keiichi through the Window as he drove his motorcycle through Nekomi. Her hands went to her belly, and she bit her lip, trying to hold back tears. She should be happy. It wasn't fair. This was supposed to be a happy time.

Would she ever see a happy time again?

She turned away and nearly jumped in surprise when the four members of her Elite Guard appeared before her.

The captain of her guard stepped forward and bowed before addressing her in their near-silent language.

The Norn blinked. "Choose?" she asked, not catching all of what he had said. "I don't understand."

The guard hissed-whispered its request again.

Belldandy blinked. "Choose which of you will protect my daughter?" she asked.

It whispered again, elaborating on her options.

The goddess, for the first time in days, smiled. It was such a small gesture, but the Elites were competing for the honor of protecting her child. It seemed for the first time in a long time, someone was looking to her benefit.

The captain suggested that they could engage in one-on-one combat with the winner taking the honor for himself. Or she could choose.

"Thank you," she told him. "But why don't you share the honor? Each of you could take a different day."

The creatures looked to each other in genuine confusion.

Belldandy elaborated. "Each of you brings your own personal and unique talents to your jobs, talents that myself and my daughter will benefit from. I feel better knowing that all of those talents are protecting both of us."

The Elites said nothing. They huddled together for a moment, then as one, they turned back to her.

The captain bowed, recognizing her decision.

888

"Do you think Keiichi will have any luck convincing Lieutenant Gaeriel?" Frigga asked as she, Urd, Nyd and Skuld walked down the hall toward their own room.

"I don't know," Urd said. "I think his odds would be better if one of our friend's requirements wasn't that Wynn and the others come out alive."

The queen turned to her stepdaughter and future son-in-law. "Have you told him... about our theory?" she asked.

The two gods looked at each other. "No," Urd confessed. "I was afraid it would push him over the edge."

"He seems to be bouncing back," Nyd added. "But unless we have proof, I don't see a reason to torture him with it."

Frigga considered this and nodded. She swiped her card key and stepped inside, suddenly coming to a stop in the doorway.

"What's up?" Urd asked, unable to see why her stepmother had gone still. She looked over the goddess's shoulder and saw an older woman with platinum blonde hair rise from the couch.

"Eir," Frigga whispered.

"Eir?" Urd asked, blinking.

"Mother?" Nyd asked behind her.

"Hey! You're holding up the line!" Skuld cried from the rear.

Frigga finally got over her shock and entered the room, smiling at the other elder goddess. "Eir," she said again. "I didn't expect to see you."

Heaven's chief healer kissed her on either cheek. "I wish I could come at a happier time and for something other than an official reason." She held the queen's hands in her own. "I'm so sorry about Belldandy."

"Thank you," Frigga told her.

Eir smiled at Nyd and stepped toward him. "My son," she said, embracing him.

"Mother," Nyd said with a slight touch of nervousness. He brightened a moment later as he took Urd's hand and practically dragged the Norn closer. "Mother, this is Urd."

Eir's smile took on a forced tone. "Urd," she said, at least trying to sound warm and friendly as she took the goddess's hand. "Frigga told me so much about you... eventually," she said, giving the elder goddess a pointed look as she said it.

Urd, knowing full well she was _not_ the goddess Eir wanted to see holding her son's hand, hesitated just a moment before her old bravado returned.

"It's nice to meet you, Eir," she said with a smile.

"Well," Eir said, obviously uncomfortable, "I'm sorry that I don't have more time. I need to speak with my son... in private."

"Yeah," Nyd said, puzzled at the request. "We can talk in my room. This way."

Urd watched as Nyd led her future mother-in-law into the next room. Once the door was closed, she turned to Frigga.

"What do you think that's about?" she asked uncertainly.

"Probably something to do with healer business," Frigga said.

"You think they're onto us already?" Urd asked.

"If they were onto us, Urd," Frigga said, "It would have been Lind greeting us and not Eir, who, though we have differences, is still a close and loyal friend and ally."

Urd bit her lip. "She's not thrilled to see me," she said.

"She will warm to you, hon," Frigga assured her. "She just needs to get to know you. As first impressions go, this one was much better than the one you made when you first met your fiancé, ne?"

The Norn chuckled. It was true. At least this time she hadn't mistaken Eir for a stripper.

888

"It's the most hideous thing I've ever heard of, and I won't do it!" Nyd told his mother point blank, the young healer near tears. "I can't believe you would even consider such a thing!"

"There is nothing to consider, Nyd," Eir told him sadly. "The decision comes from the Almighty himself."

"Find someone else," he said.

"There _is_ no one else," Eir explained firmly. "You went to Hell under your own authority. They will expect you again. You are the only one who can do this."

"It goes against everything I believe in," he said. "Everything _you_ believe in."

"I know," she said sympathetically. "And I know it will also strain your relationship with your fiancé. But it is not our place to put our will ahead of that of the Almighty." She took a breath and took him by the shoulders. "He understands that this test will be difficult for you. He truly does. But he can only offer these tests to those he trusts to get them done."

"Do not ask this of me," he begged her.

"I am not asking you, Nyd," Eir replied. "I am telling you. Your angel, please."

He looked bitterly at her, but obeyed. "Angel," he whispered painfully. "Come forth."

Haud Vulnero appeared over him, the cloaked angel looking every bit as angry as his master.

"Angel, come forth," Eir repeated, and an angel born of snow with white-gold hair emerged over her.

Eir's angel reached out and placed a small, blue orb the size of an aspirin in Vulnero's hand.

"I am sorry, Nyd," she said. "This is the way it must be. The choice must be hers. You will tell no one of this, especially Frigga. If she knew, she may attempt to... complicate matters."

He swallowed and shook his head, his gaze rooted to the floor. "I never thought I would see such a day," he whispered. The healer looked up at her. "Never."

"Complete this task, Nyd," she told him. "Or else we may see even worse days."

888

"It does not bother you that he said nothing?"

Carestia rolled her eyes at Krieg as she ran the whetstone over the edge of her falchion. "Does it matter?" she asked. "He told her only what I would have."

The larger god rumbled. He had come to Carestia to sound her out on what Miranda was apparently offering. As he thought, she was less than enthusiastic.

"The choice should have been offered to us all," he told her. "Why deny us that?"

At this the former Seraphim pilot arched an eyebrow. She tapped the whetstone against the table in thought. "It matters not," she finally said. "As the choice would have been the same."

"Then why not let you make it?" he pressed.

"Krieg, if you're so anxious to leave, why don't you go?" she asked him acidly.

"Because I do not abandon my teammates," he replied.

"And neither does Metheus," she told him. "He looks out for us. He's led us this far."

"And that is your way, Elra?" he asked her. "To let a man protect you from your decisions?"

The look she gave him could have melted lead. "That name is dead and gone, Krieg," she hissed at him. "I've told you not to use it."

"Why not?" he asked pointedly. "Is it because Elra would feel guilt where Carestia feels none?"

She glared at him hatefully as he continued.

"Or is it shame for the decisions Elra made that Carestia must now live with?" he sneered.

"Shiloh, take this fucker's head off," Carestia hissed. Her angel shot from her back just in time to face off with Blitz Krieg over the two rampants' heads.

Deviant Shiloh bared her fangs at the other angel while electricity arced up and down Blitz Krieg's body.

Before the fight could go further, Metheus walked into the briefing room. He saw the angels and grit his teeth.

"What in the Dark Lady's name is going on here?!" he demanded.

Carestia smiled. "Krieg here was telling me about the big Fifty-Eighth reunion we missed," she said.

Metheus arched an eyebrow. "Really?" he said. "I didn't know he had been invited."

"It's so hard to keep a secret in such a tight community, wouldn't you agree, Lord Inquisitor?" Krieg said.

"So it would seem," Metheus told him noncommitally.

"So what did she offer us?" Carestia asked.

Metheus regarded them both, knowing in his heart how Krieg had found out and now forced to wonder how much Peorth had told him and what to cop to.

"Sanctuary," he told her. "In a primitive realm where we could hide."

"Oooh," Carestia replied sarcastically. "Sorry we missed out on _that_!"

"Colonel Miranda has always been up front with us," Krieg reminded them. "If she made the offer, then it was in good faith."

"Look, Krieg," Carestia said, her angel slowly reintegrating with her and their argument apparently forgotten. "If you want to go hide in the bushes and leave us here then go ahead." She waved her sword toward the door. "Go on! You've got no loyalty, finocchio! Take your little dolls and go!"

Krieg didn't pay attention to her. His eyes locked on Metheus. "Was she sincere?" he asked.

He gave it a couple of heartbeats before answering. "I don't know," he said.

888

She had no idea how she had managed to get this far. More than six times she had been sure she would be caught, only to somehow sneak through as she made her way to the hall where she thought Belldandy was being kept.

Her suspicion was confirmed as she turned a corner and quickly jumped back out of sight. Two Elites were stationed outside a door. That must be it.

Of course, it might as well be on the moon as she had no chance of sneaking past those guards.

Peorth shut her eyes and cursed herself for thinking this was going to be easy. A moment later, she was praising the gods of chance as she looked back and saw Belldandy exit the room and her Elites follow her down the hall, leaving the room unguarded.

She might not be able to get to Belldandy, but she could get to her room, hide and wait for her there.

Easy stuff.

The love goddess snuck around the corner and turned the handle on the gilded door. It slid open without a sound, and she darted in, immediately searching for guards or alarms. Finding none, she started looking for a hiding place.

She found a wardrobe and opened it, hopping inside and pulling the door mostly closed behind her.

Taking a relaxing breath, she settled into wait and hoped that Belldandy would return before Metheus got off duty.

888

Urd gave Nyd another worried look and bit her lip. He was just sitting there, staring at his holotop. He had been distant and preoccupied ever since Eir had left.

As a rule, Urd didn't usually get involved in people's problems unless it could amuse her somehow, but she felt an overwhelming need to try to help him, a need tempered by the fear that his preoccupation had something to do with her.

She sat next to him and resisted the urge to wrap her arms around him. After Epiphany, Belldandy had told her how it somehow seemed wrong to not be touching Keiichi in some fashion. She had laughed at the time, now she understood.

"Nyd?" she whispered. "Are you all right?"

He tapped the holotop's screen and leaned back, taking a breath. "No," he said honestly.

She waited for him to go into detail, but he seemed reluctant. "Was it something your mom said?" Urd asked, feeling a twinge of apprehension. If Eir had gone on record with Nyd on her disapproval...

"She's asked me to do something," he told her. "Something I don't want to do. But I don't have any choice in the matter."

"I see."

He shut his eyes. "I truly hope you don't." Anger and grief colored his speech. How would he explain it to her? What would he say? He couldn't disobey a direct order from the Almighty and yet he'd give anything to do so.

"It'll be all right," she said.

He turned and found her smiling at him. "What?" he asked, puzzled by such a simple statement.

She turned away and crossed her legs. "If there's one thing I know about you with one hundred percent certainty, it's that you'll always do the right thing," she told him. "No matter what they want you to do, I know you'll do what's right."

He looked away in shame. She wouldn't say that if she knew what it was they wanted him to do.

"I have to go see Belldandy," he told her quietly. "Tomorrow night."

Urd blinked at that. The rational part of her thought it was a brilliant idea. He could scout out guards, defenses, make sure that Belldandy hadn't been moved, make sure she was able to travel. It made the most sense in the world...

"Don't go," she said quickly.

He turned to her, wondering if she somehow knew. "What?"

"Don't go," she repeated. "Nyd, I can't explain it, but I have an awful feeling about it. Don't go. I'm... Dammit," she grumbled, taking a breath. "I'm worried about you."

He smiled sadly. "I'll be okay," he said.

"No," she said. "There's something wrong here. I can feel it, Nyd. I'm asking you... don't go."

Nyd reached out and took her hand. "I have to."

Now she did wrap her arms around him. "Find out what you can," she whispered.

He nodded. "I will."

She sighed. "And be careful."

"I'll be fine," he said, the irony not lost on him. "I'll be fine."

888

Peorth heard the door open and shut and carefully peeked out to find Belldandy sitting on her bed, deep in thought. She waited several more seconds, trying to detect anyone else in the room, but it was quiet.

She pushed the door open and whispered. "Belldandy!"

The goddess's head swung around and her eyes lit up. "Peorth!"

"Shh!" the other goddess hissed.

"What are you doing here?!" Belldandy whispered.

"I let Wynn capture me," she whispered.

Something unrecognizable passed over the Norn's eyes that caused Peorth to flinch. She shrugged it off and sat on the bed next to her. "I'm working on a way to get us all out," she said.

Belldandy blinked. "Where's the rescue team?"

Peorth bit her lip. "There isn't one."

"What?" Belldandy asked. "Mot... I mean... Hild said there wouldn't, but... I just assumed she was lying... No one's coming?!"

"No," Peorth told her. "But I'm working on a way to get you, Wynn and the other rampants out..."

"The rampants?!" Belldandy cried, shooting to her feet. She glared angrily down at Peorth, and the goddess actually scooted back a few inches in fear. She had never seen such an expression on the gentle Belldandy's face. "Metheus is the cause of all of this!" Belldandy hissed.

"It's not his fault," Peorth defended quietly. "It's... complicated..."

"It's true then," Belldandy said, turning away, the last fragments of hope starting to fall away. "The only way out is through..."

"Belldandy! I told you! I'm going to get us out! I just need more time!"

"There _is_ no more time!" Belldandy cried, turning back to her, tears streaming down her face. "Peorth, I'm pregnant! Every moment I stay here my soul darkens a little more! I... I've done things... Horrible things, Peorth! Even if you do succeed, I could never go back to Heaven!"

The pronouncement rocked Peorth, but she bounced back quickly.

"Non!" Peorth replied. "That's how they get you, don't you see?! That's how they got Wynn and the others! They make you do awful things so that you _believe_ redemption is impossible! But it's not!"

"Impossible?" Belldandy asked. "My own father has abandoned me to this place," she wept.

"You have to hold on!" Peorth told her. "Belldandy..."

"Get yourself out," Belldandy told her softly. She turned her moist eyes on the goddess a moment later. "It's too late for me, Peorth. All I can do is hope Hild will keep her promises. Escape from this place. Before it changes you too."

"Belldandy..."

The Norn stood up. "Hide. I'll lead the Elites away so you can escape."

"I'm not leaving Hell without you," Peorth told her.

Belldandy turned to her, eyes red and puffy from grief. "Then you will never leave."

Peorth watched as the Norn started for the door. She had never seen such hopelessness and despair. Shaking herself out of her disbelief, she quickly hid in the wardrobe again. She heard Belldandy tell the guards she was going to the "window" and that they would go with her.

A few minutes later, she was making her way back to Wynn's quarters.

888

Peorth had only been back in the apartment for half an hour when Metheus stepped through the door. She smiled at him.

"You're not injured," she quipped. "Good day at the office?"

"So so," he said, not smiling. "Had a few interesting conversations."

"Oh?" she asked.

"Indeed," he said. "I think I missed an even better one."

"How so?" she asked.

"Well, after a rather uncomfortable conversation with Krieg and Carestia, I stopped by to see you."

Peorth's blood ran cold.

"Where were you?" he asked her.

She searched her mind desperately for a lie that might work. "I..."

He took her hand and helped her up. "Fleur," he whispered. "You understand the kind of predicament this places me in..."

"Wynn, I swear, I..."

She was cut off as he suddenly pressed her against the stone wall, holding her immobile.

"I can't trust you not to lie to me, Fleur," he said. "This whole thing has been a set-up, hasn't it?"

"No! Wynn! I..."

"You've betrayed me at every step," he muttered, his voice tinged with both anger and sadness. "I don't want to hear you lie to me. And I don't want to do what I'm going to have to if I don't get the information I need. You were sent here, they _wanted_ us to recover you... so you could prepare for a rescue mission."

"No, Wynn, I swear, I..."

"Silence!" he hissed. "I just told you I didn't want to hear you lie. And I won't."

She saw the wrath in his eye, boiling. Peorth had betrayed him, and he knew it. Now the only question was how badly had they been compromised? He had to know.

With a puff of black smoke, Black Jack appeared over him.

"Bring her out," Metheus ordered her.

She blinked. "What?"

"Gorgeous Rose," he clarified. "Summon her. We'll merge, and I'll see just how deep your treachery goes for myself."

Peorth shook her head. If he used his angel to look into her mind, he wouldn't just see her conversation with Belldandy, it would confirm for him that Krieg was turning.

More than that, it would show him the piece of Lucky Jack that Gorgeous Rose had been sheltering.

"Bring her out," Metheus whispered. "Now."

"Non," she replied quietly.

He turned and flung her bodily across the room, sending her crashing into the desk nearby, breaking a lamp as she landed. Above his head, Black Jack hissed in glee at the violent spectacle.

She shut her eyes as the pain started to recede. Looking up, she saw Metheus reach down and grab her by the hair, pulling her to her feet. She cried out in pain as he shoved her against the wall again.

"Summon her," he ordered again.

_Gorgeous Rose, don't move!_ she thought at her angel, even as her higher self was begging to be allowed to help.

"Summon her," he whispered.

She grit her teeth. "Why?" she bit out. "So I can let that... that dark and twisted _thing_ have his way with her?! I won't subject her to that!"

"You're trying to turn my men against me," he told her.

"Non!"

"You weren't captured. You were _sent_ here."

"Non! Wynn..."

His face was expressionless now. "You've betrayed me... every step of the way..." He chuckled. "Hild's tit, this is funny..."

She started to cry. The goddess raised her arm to reach out to him. "Wynn..."

He caught her wrist in his hand and squeezed. "Wynn is dead," he told her. "Dead and gone."

Peorth sniffled, but her expression turned hard. "I never really believed that... until just now."

Metheus snapped his fingers, and the door opened. Two recovery agents entered. He pivoted and shoved her into their arms.

"Take her to the pit."

They bowed and took her by each arm, dragging her out the door.

He turned from them, unwilling to look at her face as she was taken away.

888

Otaki opened the door and found a blonde woman standing at their doorstep.

"I'm looking for Morisato san," Gaeriel told him.

"Women aren't permitted in this place of manly zen and..."

"Let me in," Gaeriel told him dangerously. "Or I'm going to become annoyed with you."

Otaki cleared his throat and stepped aside. "He's upstairs," he said, giving her the room number. "Oh... and um... don't stand near the window."

She arched an eyebrow and climbed the stairs. Finding the proper door, she knocked and waited.

Keiichi opened the door and blinked. "Gaeriel san," he said. "I didn't expect to see you."

"Yeah, I know," she said quietly. "I just wanted to stop by and say..." She took a breath. "... that I'm in."

He shook his head in disbelief. "What?"

She nodded. "I said I'm in. I'll go to Hell with you."

888

She couldn't tell how long she had been in the pit. Hours... days... she didn't know. The only source of light was from the grate trapdoor that was the only way in or out.

"The Pit" wasn't a pit as much as it was a pool. A pool of what Peorth didn't want to find out. It stank so bad she couldn't breathe at first, and she wondered if she was in sewage. When they first tossed her down, she had swum to the wall where she managed to find a ledge just beneath the water. It didn't get her out of the water, but it allowed her to rest without the fear of drowning in the sickly liquid.

_This is it_, she thought. _This is how it's going to end. Everyone in Heaven thinks I'm a traitor. No one will ever even wonder how I died..._

She shivered in the cold and tried vainly for a moment to wipe the slime out of her hair. When that failed, she put her face in her hands and cried.

Her head shot up as she heard the grate open and saw a splash as something hit the water. Then she heard it.

"HELP! HELP ME!" It was a child's voice.

Peorth pushed herself off the ledge and swam toward the splashing person. The child was panicking, gasping for breath as she tried to right herself.

The goddess grabbed her and started swimming for the ledge. "Stop struggling!" she cried. "It's okay! I've got you!"

The child struggled for another few moments but started to calm down. Peorth managed to get her to the ledge and pushed her onto it.

Once safe, the child, a little girl, started to cry.

"Shhh," Peorth said, trying to soothe her. "It's okay, Petite."

"Mama!" the child wailed.

"Shhh," Peorth said again, embracing the little girl. "It's all right. Hush, baby."

The girl buried her face in Peorth's chest and cried.

"What happened?" Peorth asked quietly. "Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The girl sniffled. "M... Mama and I were... having a picnic... And... And these bad people came..."

Peorth hugged and rocked the girl, who upon closer examination appeared no older than Skuld, perhaps younger.

"Mama called her angel... but... but the bad people did something...and she disappeared..." The girl sniffled. "Then Mama went to sleep, and I couldn't wake her up! And they grabbed me..."

"It's okay, Petite," Peorth hushed her. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."

The girl snuffled again.

Peorth looked up at the grate wondering why they'd bother throwing a little girl down here. Then again, it _was_ Hell.

The child began to calm down, her sniffles coming further and further apart. Peorth decided to try to talk to her.

"Petite?" she whispered. "Are you okay?" She could feel the girl nodding against her arm. Peorth smiled gently. "It's going to be all right. We'll get out of here soon, okay?" She gently wiped some of the slime from the girl's face.

She smiled again, hoping that her face didn't look as terrified as she felt inside. "My name is Peorth," she said. "What's yours?"

The girl looked up at her and smiled shyly.

"Tabitha."


	21. Damned

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 21**_

_**Damned**_

* * *

**"The lonely road, the one that I should try to walk alone.**

**I'll be home tonight, take a breath and softly say goodbye."**

_Breaking Benjamin_

_"Here We Are"_

* * *

Belldandy sat on her bed as she usually did when she wasn't in the viewing room or studying for the next part of her demonic checklist. Her hand lazily traveled down to her belly as she contemplated the future.

She was going to be a mother, a role Keiichi had told her she had been born to play.

The Vector had told her the child was normal, given its parentage and its very early stage of development. He had even been able to tell her that it was a girl.

But to raise a child in this place...

No, she wouldn't! She would raise it on Earth. Mother told her so.

Could Hild be believed?

She hadn't lied yet...

The goddess looked up as her Elites approached her bed.

"Is something wrong?" she asked quietly.

The captain whispered to her, and she blinked. It was true. Usually at this time of day she left for the viewing room. Today... Today she just couldn't.

"Not today," she whispered.

The Elites looked to each other, and the captain asked if she required a Vector.

"No, I'm all right."

The captain nodded, and the Elites turned to leave.

"Wait," she called.

Her guards turned back to her.

888

He hadn't wanted to meld with her that night, much to World of Elegance's disappointment. His decision had surprised her, and made her feel... rejected.

Nyd explained that until the task he had been assigned was complete, he couldn't do anything that might disclose it, not even to her. And that meant no joining.

Urd blew air between her lips as she looked up at the ceiling. "Is it because of your mother?" she asked point blank.

He looked at her in surprise. "My mother? What makes you think that?"

"She doesn't like me," Urd told him. "You know why, you've seen it in my mind. Are you... having second thoughts?" she asked.

"No!"

"Is that why you..."

She broke off as she caught sight of his expression. The goddess had never seen him so sad.

"Nyd, what's this thing they want you to do?" she asked, her tone haunted with fear for her fiancé.

"I can't tell you," he said quietly.

"It's hurting you inside," she said, her eyes narrowing. "It's not just something difficult, it's something you know is wrong."

He smiled. "You already know me too well," he whispered.

"You also haven't stammered or apologized for anything in hours," she said. He blinked at this accusation. "That means that whatever it is, it's weighing on the professional side of you."

He swallowed. "Yeah," he said. "Actually, it's wrong no matter how you slice it."

"It has something to do with Belldandy, doesn't it?"

"Urd..."

"What are they making you do?" she pressed.

"I can't tell you."

She bit her lip. The goddess wanted to trust him, did trust him. But he was scaring her. "Nyd..."

He turned to her, tears in his eyes. "I love you, Urd," he said. "No matter what happens or what changes... I want you to know that."

"Nyd..." she whispered.

He got out of bed and started to dress. "I should go," he told her.

"Don't run away from me," she begged quietly. "I'm sorry I pressed."

Nyd paused.

"Don't go yet," she asked him.

He looked down at his feet. "I'm a pathetic excuse for a man," he whispered.

"What?"

"Say what you will about rampants," he told her. "But at least they have the strength to make a choice. All a god can do is obey."

She looked at him sympathetically, wishing she could know what was eating away at his soul.

_What would Belldandy do?_ she asked herself.

The goddess closed her eyes. She knew. It didn't matter whether she knew or not. Urd smiled and lifted the blanket, inviting him back into bed.

He blinked at her.

"It's okay," she said soothingly. "It doesn't matter. Whatever it is, it's going to be okay. Because we're together."

"Urd..."

"Whatever happens, I'm going to be here for you," she told him. She bit the inside of her cheek nervously. "My fiancé is going to Hell tomorrow," she continued. "And I don't want him to leave without a proper goodbye."

He climbed back into bed, and she wrapped her arms around him.

888

"So you're..." Belldandy licked her lips and tried to contort her tongue in the proper directions to make the name pronounceable. "...Ashaaalaamantasssa," she finished. "And you," she pointed at the next Elite, "...are Ssselessmeshala."

The Elites, sitting across from her on the floor, nodded. Two were speaking to her while the other two watched the door.

"And the four of you are brothers?" she asked.

Ssselessmeshala nodded.

"And you're the youngest?" Belldandy asked.

The Elite nodded.

Belldandy smiled. At first, she had thought the idea seemed hopeless. But she was terribly lonely. She couldn't talk to Hild without the fear of being made to do some new and terrible thing. And Peorth surely had escaped by now. The Elites were all she had.

"I have a younger sister," she shared. "Skuld. She's the engineer of the family, always inventing new things," she said, a trace of happiness entering her voice for the first time since she arrived in Hell.

Ssselessmeshala whispered something to her. The Elites' language was difficult sometimes to understand. It was made almost entirely of whispers, a trait that developed over millenia as a survival mechanism. Their realm was a harsh one, and the Elites, impressive warriors though they were, were not on the top of that realm's food chain.

"Me?" Belldandy asked. Her voice turned wistful. "I granted wishes. My job was to make people happy. Now..." She turned away, saddened by the reminder of what she had lost.

Ashaaalaamantasssa whispered, drawing Belldandy's attention back to the conversation. "Yes, Urd is my sister," she confirmed.

The older Elite whispered again, and Belldandy blinked in surprise. "Truly? You were one of her guards while she lived here?"

Ashaaalaamantasssa nodded and whispered again.

Belldandy smiled again, the act becoming less and less rare as the day went on. "She is very well!" Belldandy told him. "She just turned a thousand and was placed in a Pairing."

The Elites looked at her quizzically, their blood-red eyes conveying confusion.

"It's when two gods are arranged to marry," she explained.

Ashaaalaamantasssa seemed to hiss and cough at the same time, something Belldandy had learned was laughter. He whispered to her again.

"No, I can't imagine her as a housewife either," Belldandy allowed.

The youngest Elite entered the conversation again.

"No, I am not married," Belldandy answered sadly. "We were... interrupted, I guess you could say. He lives on Earth."

Ssselessmeshala whispered again.

"That is a kind offer," she said with a smile. "But I would not want him brought to this place. He wouldn't like it."

He whispered again. "Earth? Earth is not like this," she said, gesturing to the room. "It's bright, and happy. People laugh, and the sun shines, and the wind is cool and clean." She sighed.

Ssselessmeshala whispered another question. "I'm sure you'd like it there very much," she said with a smile. "When I return to Earth, will the four of you come with me?"

At their nods, she brightened. "That's wonderful."

They looked up as the captain, Melassschala, waved for them to come to him. The two guards stood.

"Thank you very much," Belldandy told them. "I know you are not here to chit chat with a lonely goddess."

They bowed to her before turning and walking away.

Belldandy smiled. Perhaps some good can be found even in Hell.

888

"Ah! Belldandy!" Hild cried happily as her adopted daughter entered the throne room. Hild shooed away a few advisors and generals and strode up to the goddess, who was flanked by her Elites.

"Mother," Belldandy greeted respectfully.

Hild took Belldandy's arm and led her toward the center of the throne room. "You seem to be feeling better today," she said. "I take it the shock and irrational fear you had has worn off?"

The goddess nodded. "I am still shocked," she said honestly. "But I am not as fearful as I was."

"Glorious! Simply glorious! I don't want you to put too much stress on my grandchild."

They found themselves approaching Hild's onyx throne, and the archdemoness placed her hands on Belldandy's shoulders, leaning in to whisper to her. "You want to try it on?"

Belldandy blinked. "Me?"

Hild smiled evilly. "Why not? You are my heir. One day it will be yours, I'm sure. Go ahead. Sit down."

The Norn looked a little uncomfortable at the idea of sitting on the throne of Hell, but she straightened her skirt and did as she was told, letting her hands rest in her lap.

Hild applauded. "You look wonderful! Quite like the ruler of Hell!" The demoness smiled. "I am so proud of you, Belldandy. You've come so far so quickly. Even Metheus has commented..."

The archdemoness smiled at the sudden change in Belldandy's eyes. The hatred was palpable. But she wasn't in the mood to push her daughter too hard. Not on such a wonderful day.

"Tell me, my Belldandy, what are you doing a week from Wednesday?"

Belldandy blinked. "I... I suppose I will be training or testing," she answered honestly.

"Oh? Really? That's too bad," Hild told her. "I would hate to make Keiichi wait any longer to see you..."

"Keiichi san!?" Belldandy cried, shooting to her feet. "Keiichi san?!" she repeated.

Hild grinned unctuously. "Indeed."

"But... you said you wouldn't let me go back to Earth until..."

The archdemoness waved that aside. "You have performed so wonderfully that I think you deserve a treat."

The Norn collapsed back into her chair, her eyes wide in silent shock. "I get to see Keiichi san?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," Hild told her. "For a day, next Wednesday. But!" She held a finger up to punctuate her next sentence. "You will _not_ go to Earth."

Belldandy looked puzzled.

"It's far too dangerous," Hild told her. "I fear for your safety. Brave and capable as they are, the Elites will not be able to repel a large enough assault."

"But... that doesn't make sense," Belldandy told her. "Who would want to attack us?"

Hild smiled at her use of the word, "us." "Belldandy, I've explained this to you," she said quietly, as if speaking to a child who couldn't comprehend why she shouldn't wander off in the park alone at night. "You're not one of them anymore. And now you carry a grandchild of the Almighty. They won't allow that."

She looked down at her lap sadly. "I can't believe that."

Hild smiled softly. "Fortunately, you don't have to. I will arrange for you and Keiichi to have some time alone in another realm where you can give him the good news in private." She took the goddess's chin in her hand and pulled her gaze to hers. "In another few weeks, Belldandy, you'll be back on Earth, making Keiichi breakfast and picking out strollers for your baby. I promise."

The goddess smiled. "Thank you, Mother."

888

"Time to go," Nyd said, pulling his white healer's cloak around him.

Urd watched him go to the sink and fill the basin before mixing a few cups of salt into the liquid. The god stirred the liquid until the salt completely dissolved into a run-of-the-mill saline solution.

"Do you have a message for her?" Nyd asked, not turning to face the Norn.

"That I love her," Urd told him. "And that we'll see her soon."

He paused. "Urd... if you have more to say... I think you should."

She blinked. "You say that as if we're not going to see her again," she whispered.

He licked his lips. "You might not," he told her.

"Nyd, what are you talking about?"

The healer turned and looked into her eyes. It was in those pools of jade that he found what he was searching for, the strength to disobey.

"They've asked me to deliver something to her," he said quietly. "Something terrible. A poison. One that will cause a massive cascade failure throughout the spirit and body."

She shook her head. "What? Why?"

"Hild is winning," Nyd told her. "The market is on the verge of collapse. For the first time since before the last war, there are more souls aligned with Hell than with Heaven. The Almighty is being made to look weak, and that can't happen if faith in him is to be maintained. They want a symbol they can rally around."

"So what?" Urd asked. "They expect Belldandy to poison and kill Hild?! That's stupid! It'll never work!"

He blinked back tears and took her by the shoulders. "The poison's not for Hild, Urd."

The idea was so foreign, so awful, so inconceivable, that it took Urd a moment to comprehend what Nyd was saying. "No," she whispered. "That's..."

"They want her to choose," Nyd told her. "Obey Hild or defy her. The Almighty and his council believe Belldandy will choose to defy Hild... and take the poison. When she does, she'll become a martyr and the pendulum will swing back toward Heaven."

"And you're going to do this?" Urd asked, shocked to her core.

"I can't defy the Almighty," he said.

"But you can kill my sister!?" she hissed, the fury in her eyes and voice surprising even him.

"Do you think I _want_ to do this?!" he asked, tears pooling in his eyes. "I _hate_ this, Urd! My whole life I've fought to _preserve_ life!"

"I can't believe this," she muttered, shaking her head. "I can't believe you're going along with this."

"Urd..."

"You know she won't do it," Urd told him quickly. "Belldandy cherishes life. She won't end hers."

"I hope you're right, Urd," he said. "I really do. And even when I speak to her I'll beg her not to do it. I promise you, I will do whatever I can to convince her not to do this. But the Almighty has made his decision. I have to obey."

Urd looked at him, her eyes firm. "She won't do it," she said again with certainty.

"I believe you, and I'm glad," he said. The healer started to lean in to offer a kiss of comfort, but she turned her head. He closed his eyes painfully and stepped back. Turning to the basin of salt water.

"Nyd!"

He turned back, and caught her as she kissed him. When they parted, she looked into his eyes. "Be careful," she told him. "Hild is no idiot. Tell my sister I love her and if she even thinks of taking that pill she's a bigger idiot than you are for taking it to her!"

The healer smiled. "I will."

"And be careful!" she said agian.

"I'll be fine," he told her. "I'll be okay."

She kissed him again. "I love you."

"I love you too," he told her, pulling away and reaching back to touch the water. A moment later, he was gone.

Urd leaned against the kitchen counter and started to cry.

888

"You shouldn't do that," Tabitha warned Peorth from the ledge.

The goddess ignored her. She was hanging by her fingers from the overhead grate, trying to figure out the locking mechanism.

"There's a monster up there," Tabitha told her breathlessly.

"There are a million monsters up there," Peorth told her calmly. She kicked herself a moment later. Tabitha was a child. That was probably the last thing she wanted to hear.

"This one is big," she argued. "And... and mean!" Tabitha added.

_They're all big and mean_... Peorth thought. She managed to squeeze her hand through one of the gaps, and pulled it back a second later with a shriek of terror as some _thing's_ foot struck the grate next to it.

The goddess fell back into the water with a splash. Surfacing a moment later, she spat out rancid water and looked up.

Whatever it was, it was big... and mean, Peorth was willing to bet. It looked like a deep sea diver, only bigger. The portholes of its suit glowed angrily at her. It made a loud noise like a demonic foghorn that shook the walls.

Tabitha screamed and held her hands over her ears. The monster battered its hand against the grate in warning.

Peorth swam back to the ledge where Tabitha was still screaming in terror. The goddess pulled herself up and grabbed the young girl, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Shhh! Shhh!" Peorth hissed. "Your screams are agitating it!"

Tabitha, breathing like an exhausted sprinter, clammed up, her eyes wide and searching the gloom around them.

The monster stopped its assault on the grate and hooted again. A moment later, they heard its mammoth footsteps as it walked away.

Tabitha was crying again, pulling her knees up to her chest. Peorth held her and shushed her again.

"Mama," the girl sobbed. "I want Mama..."

"I know," Peorth whispered, holding her tenderly. "I know. It's okay. It's gone."

The goddess searched for a way to take the girl's mind off things. "Do you want to hear a story?" she asked.

Tabitha sniffled and nodded.

"Bon," Peorth replied. "Once upon a time in a far away realm there was a boy named Kei. Kei was born under an unlucky star, and the Almighty determined that he was to get a wish..."

888

The Elite whispered into her ear, and Hild arched an eyebrow in response. "Again?" she asked. She took a seat on her throne and crossed her legs. "Then by all means, see him in."

The throne room doors opened, and Nyd entered, alone this time. The healer forced himself to bite back fear. This time he was alone in this dark place with no one to help him should his true purpose be discovered.

His hand delved into his pocket and grasped the tiny gold ring there, his fingers wrapping around it so tightly he was afraid he might bend it.

_Urd is with me. She's my strength..._ he thought.

"Nub!" Hild greeted with delight. "You've returned! You have no idea how happy that makes me." This last sentence was said with a total lack of emotion.

He didn't bother correcting her. Swallowing nervously, he spoke up. "I... I have come to press our rights under the Armistice to..."

Hild sighed. "Very well."

He blinked. That was easy.

"Same rules," she said. "No letters, the Elites will check you out."

It was too easy. He cleared his throat nervously. "Have there been any changes that you've noticed in Miss Belldandy's condition?" he asked her.

Hild smiled cruelly. "Huge changes," she said. "But you'll see for yourself, I think." She snapped her fingers. "The Elites will take you to her."

"Thank you," he managed as the shadowy warrior gestured to the doorway.

As he followed the Elite, his hand gripped the ring tightly.

888

Frigga found her on the roof of Miranda's apartment building, looking out over Nekomi.

"Urd, honey?" she asked, stepping closer. "Are you all right?"

The Norn didn't turn. "You're a seer," she said simply. "Tell me everything will be okay."

The queen sat next to her. "Define... 'okay.'"

Urd sighed. "I was afraid of that."

Frigga smiled at her. "Don't be afraid," she said. "All things change as do all people. I meant my question. 'Okay' in my mind means that Belldandy will be safe and out of that place, back here with her Keiichi and her sisters. But if you are asking me if things will ever be the way they were before..." She looked down and sighed. "No, they will not. We are all the slaves of our choices, Urd. What we choose to say or do or who we love or hate. Time can be undone to some extent, but not our choices. Those live with us forever."

Urd looked up at the stars. "Our choices, huh?"

"Indeed. For good or ill, they are what define us." She took a breath. "And I believe Belldandy, even as we speak, is making choices that will shape her destiny forever. Hers and ours."

The Norn looked at her stepmother and chewed on this. "Will she die?"

Frigga looked up at her in surprise. "Will _she_ die?"

Urd looked back and blinked.

888

"Nyd san, it's good to see you," Belldandy said, warmly embracing him.

"How are you?" he asked. "Have they mistreated you?"

"To be honest," she said, looking away. "I... I don't know."

"You don't know?" he asked, blinking.

The Norn went to her bed and sat down. "To be mistreated would mean that they have treated me below the norms of how they treat one another. In that respect... I believe I am being treated well."

It was an odd answer. Alarm bells went off in the healer's mind. "Miss Belldandy," he said. "I don't have much time. There is something we must discuss."

"First, I must ask," Belldandy said. "Did Peorth make it back all right?"

Nyd blinked. "Peorth has not been seen in several days. She was captured and brought here."

Belldandy's face fell, but to Nyd's amazement, it started to harden.

"She stayed," she said quietly. "To try to help Metheus and the others."

"Huh?" Nyd asked, blinking.

_Abandoned again..._

_No, not true!_ the part of Belldandy that was still unstained cried back. _She said she would stay until she could get you all out! If she stayed, then she did so to help us all!_

"Miss Belldandy?"

She looked up, the anger seemingly forgotten. "Hai?"

Nyd looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I..." He swallowed. "I have brought a message from the Almighty."

Belldandy's eyes lit up. Finally!

"What does my father say?!" she asked happily. "Has he appealed to Mother to release me?!"

He blinked. "'Mother?'"

Belldandy blinked in confusion. "I... I meant Hild..." she trailed off. She shook the confusion from her head and turned to him, anger flashing in her eyes. "Just tell me what he said!" she demanded.

The healer stepped back a pace in surprise. He hadn't known Belldandy long, but the look of rage in her eyes was simply... unnatural.

"Haud Vulnero, come forth," he said quietly. With a flash of light, his angel ascended from within him.

Belldandy watched, both delighted at the sight of another angel and jealous of its beauty. Would Holy Bell ever be as beautiful again?

Nyd closed his eyes as Vulnero held out the pill, placing it in the healer's hand.

"Belldandy," Nyd said quietly. "The Almighty is charging you with a horrible test."

888

"Okay, you're going to love this," Skuld said excitedly as she placed ten bone mics on the table in front of them. "I took the bone mics you gave me and added a little invention of my own, Skuld's Patented Probability Synchronization Chip!"

"What does it do?" Miranda asked, picking one of the comm devices up. Each held a dark blue gem that fixed to the front of the wearer's throat, allowing them to communicate with one another in whispers.

Skuld crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm glad you asked. BANPEI! VISUAL AID!"

The robot held up a poster board with a drawing of a black tree and several stick figures.

"Not up to your usual standards," Keiichi noted.

"I'm on a _budget_!" Skuld growled at him. She cleared her throat. "The big problem with communications in Hell, according to all the military history books Miranda loaned me, is that Nidhogg, Hell's version of Yggdrasil, controls all the frequencies. Slide!"

Banpei held up a new poster board. All of the stick figures now sported sad faces.

"Whenever an unidentified signal is detected, Nidhogg can home in on it and either tap it or jam it. Slide!"

The robot switched poster boards again. This time all the stick figures had happy faces.

"With my new chip, however, after each transmission, the transmitters all retune to a random frequency on the net, making it impossible for Nidhogg to jam or tap our communications. What my chip does is synchronize the laws of probability among each transmitter so that each individual transmitter retunes to the _exact same frequency _at the same time. Slide!"

Banpei held up a poster board that said, "Questions?"

Urd was only half listening. Her thoughts were on Belldandy and Nyd.

Her conversation with her stepmother concerned her, but she couldn't figure out why. It wasn't necessarily what she said, it was how she said it...

"Skuld, this is above and beyond," Miranda told her. "Well done."

The youngest Norn smiled. "I should have a jammer for you soon too."

"Great," Frigga said. "Things are falling into place."

_Or falling to pieces..._ a voice in Urd's head whispered.

888

Belldandy was silent. Her mind was having a hard time comprehending what Nyd had just told her, what the Almighty... her _father_... was asking her to do.

"I don't believe it," she whispered.

Nyd said nothing. What could he possibly say?

"Nyd san... I'm pregnant," she told him quietly.

"I know," he told her. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she turned to him, searching for the truth in his face. The sadness there told her everything. "Belldandy... I... I don't know what to say... They said... They said the choice must be yours."

She reached out and took the pill from him, her eyes studying it, trying to make some sense out of it.

"You know?" she asked, her whisper coming out with an edge.

He nodded.

She turned away from him, leaning against the bed as her breaths came in sharp gasps.

"Belldandy..."

_They know... They know and they want me to..._

"They want to kill my baby," she whispered.

"No, Belldandy, it's..."

"Be silent!" she growled.

Nyd's mouth clapped shut at the anger in her voice. His hand instinctively wrapped around the ring. Something was wrong. Very wrong. This was not Belldandy...

_It's true,_ she thought. _Everything Mother said was true! _

Her hands tightened on the blanket until her nails had punctured it, shredding the silk.

_They can't save me! They can't save my baby! They know Mother's won, so they'll try to hide their defeat behind my nobility!?_

"Belldandy, listen to me..." Nyd began again.

"No," she whispered.

Nyd sighed in relief. Urd was right. Belldandy wouldn't kill herself. Thank goo...

"I will not listen," she continued in a low growl. "Not anymore. Not to you. Or the Almighty."

He blinked at her. "Belldandy..."

_All of it! She was right about all of it! They're not even trying to get me back! Instead, they're trying to use me as... as... a political too! A way to embarrass Mother! That's my destiny?! That's what I'm worth!? A momentary victory?! A way to save face?!_ _THAT'S ALL MY BABY IS WORTH TO THEM?!_

Belldandy felt the anger boiling within her, blocking out everything else. She couldn't _feel_ anything else but that overwhelming, all-encompassing, fiery _hate!_

She turned to him, and that darkness in her eyes was there. The goddess stared at him hatefully for a moment. Then, finally, she did speak again.

"GUARDS!"

Nyd didn't even have time to flinch before two Elites leapt through the door, spurred to action by their mistress's call. Ssselessmeshala's red eyes locked onto Nyd and raised his lance.

Belldandy pointed at the healer. "This god was sent to kill me," she said. "I want him..."

Enraged by this statement, Ssselessmeshala howled and leapt forward without waiting for Belldandy to finish. Hooking the end of his spear around Nyd's foot, he pulled, throwing the god onto his back!

Nyd's eyes went wide and he raised his hands instinctively as the Elite brought the end of the spear down into the healer's stomach and into the marble floor below.

The healer gasped in shock and pain as dark energy flowed into his body, infecting his spirit.

"_NO!_" Bellandy screamed in panic, pushing the Elite away. "Don't kill him! I wanted him captured!"

Belldandy knelt next to Nyd as the hateful storm in her spirit broke. Her hands went to her face in horror at what she had done. "Nyd san?!" she whispered, reaching out to him. "Nyd san?!"

He blinked, trying to breathe through the immense pain running up and down his body. As a healer, he knew the worst thing he could do was look down at the wound, but he did so anyway, gasping at the sight.

Nyd raised his head, tears running down his face as the dark energy, a spiritual poison in itself, ran through him. "Almighty," he gasped out, quietly begging. "Almighty." He gasped a few more times, and lifted his right hand, reaching for something on the ground nearby.

Belldandy looked down and saw what he was reaching for. When he had thrown his hands up, he had dropped a small white-gold ring. Without even wondering what it was, she picked it up and placed it in his hand, wrapping his fingers around it as the sigil on his forehead began to blacken and fall away like ash.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry..."

Tears fell from her eyes as his breathing came faster. He shook his head as if he could feel her thoughts.

"Don't take it," he told her. "D...Don't... Don't take it..."

"Shh," she replied, on the verge of hysterics herself. "Don't move," she said. "Just... just breathe..." She turned to her Elites. "GET A VECTOR! GET ONE NOW!"

One of the Elites rushed out of the room. She looked back down at him. Patches of his skin were starting to blacken as the poison ran through his soul. He choked on something and coughed, drops of black liquid dotting his lips.

She wanted to comfort him, to help him, to do _something!_

_Have you not done enough?_ an accusing voice in her mind taunted her.

She looked up as Hild, flanked by four armed Elites stormed into the room. "I just heard," she said. Looking down at the dying god, she crossed her arms over her chest and smiled a little.

"Take your medicine, son," she said cruelly.

Belldandy looked up at her in horror. Her gaze fell back to Nyd as he suddenly took her hand. She felt the ring press into her palm. A black fluid leaked from the corners of his mouth, and his breath came in spastic jerks. His eyes locked onto hers.

"T..T...Tell Urd... I'...I'll be okay..." he begged.

His chest heaved one last time, and his hand went limp in hers.

888

"All right, now this map is a little old," Miranda said. "But we'll synch it with whatever Skuld can get from aerial..."

Urd checked over the map along with the others, searching for anything that seemed out of place based on her time in Hell. She leaned over to make a mark on the paper near a bridge she was sure was no longer there and paused, her hand hovering just over the map.

She stayed like that for more than a minute. Finally, Keiichi prodded her gently.

"Urd? You okay?"

The pencil fell from her hand as she suddenly straightened, her eyes going wide in terror, pain or both. The others stepped back as World of Elegance erupted from the goddess's body, looking straight up.

The angel looked down, her eyes shut. Suddenly, her mouth opened as if she were screaming, but no sound emerged.

As one, they all cried out as every window, every cup, every item in the apartment made of glass shattered. World of Elegance disappeared, and Urd fell to the floor.

Frigga rushed to her side. "Urd! Honey?! What is it?!"

"He's...He's..." Urd babbled, tears running down her face. "He's gone! HE'S GONE!" She clutched at Frigga so forcefully, the older goddess cried out in pain. "Mama!" Urd sobbed, her eyes focused on nothing. "Mama!"

Frigga held her and shushed her as best she could. "It's okay, hon. Mama's here!" She looked up at Miranda. "Your bedroom."

The valkyrie nodded and knelt to help Frigga lift her, but Keiichi stepped in ahead of her, taking Urd's left side while Frigga took the right.

"Mama! Mama! I can't feel him anymore!" Urd babbled. "Mama! Please! Please help me! I can't... I can't feel his soul! MAMA! I CAN'T FEEL HIM! MAMA!"

The others watched as Keiichi and Frigga carried the sobbing goddess into the next room. Skuld flinched, tears in her eyes as she heard Urd give another soul rending scream as the door shut behind them.

"W...What just happened?" she asked quietly.

It was Gaeriel who knelt next to her. She took the girl by the shoulder, her expression grim and sympathetic.

"Skuld... I'm afraid... I mean..."

"Doctor Nyd is dead."

They looked up and saw Miranda light a cigarette. The valkyrie took a drag and let it out. "Come on," she said quietly. "We have work to do."

"Heartless bitch," Gaeriel remarked.

"You know better than that," Miranda told her, leaning over the map again and brushing away a few shards from a shattered coffee mug. "You're a valkyrie. You want to honor his memory? Complete the mission. He's not the last we'll lose."

Gaeriel and Skuld turned back to the bedroom door as they heard the Norn crying out for him.


	22. Diamond Ring

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG.

**Choix**

**_Chapter 22_**

**_Diamond Ring_**

* * *

**"I'm just my mother's shadow... Don't look at me! Don't listen! I'm not who I used to be..."**

_Cortana_

_Halo 3_

* * *

She lay on the bed, but didn't rest. Her blue eyes were opened wide, fixated on the tiny blue pill sitting on the night stand as they had been for three days.

The goddess didn't move, didn't want to. If she moved her head too far, she'd see the black stain Nyd's eviscerated soul had leaked into the marble, forever memorializing where he died. Oh, they had cleaned it, of course. But it was still there. She could see it even if no one else could.

The pill taunted her, badgered her. Like a prosecutor grilling an accused murderer, it tossed accusation after accusation, pilloried her with names...

_Murderer..._

_Killer..._

_Demon..._

It hurt so much, she found herself longing for it. Just swallow the pill. It would upload a spiritual algorithm that would cause her mind, body and spirit to move out of synch and go their separate ways. She would be gone.

But so would the baby.

And it was that knowledge that kept her from simply reaching out and taking the little blue pill in her fingers...

Instead, those fingers twirled Nyd's ring, caressing the soft gold and the hardened stone in the center. It was the last piece of him. They had taken the body away. It was the only part left of him that she could hold onto, as if by doing so she could somehow make amends...

_...for killing him..._

_It wasn't me,_ she told herself desperately. _It wasn't me. I didn't want it to happen..._

_Excuses,_ her mind whispered back accusingly. _You called the Elites..._

_To detain him!_

_You accused him of trying to kill you. Remember what Mother told you? They would kill anything that got within ten feet of you without your permission. They did exactly as their role dictated. It was you who made the choice._

_I didn't mean it!_

_You didn't have to..._

She curled into a tight ball and tried to cry, but after three days there were no tears left.

888

Frigga heard the commotion in the other room and knocked on the door, giving it a moment before pushing it open. There had been no sounds but sobbing from that room for three days. Suddenly, it sounded as if Sleipnir had gotten loose in there, crashing against furniture and breaking glass.

She poked her head in. "Urd? Honey?" she asked.

The queen found the Norn upending dresser drawers and tossing them aside before rooting through the contents left spilled on the floor.

"Urd?" she tried again. It was a startling change. Her stepdaughter hadn't climbed out of bed since they managed to get her back to their hotel room. Now she was ransacking the place like an ATF agent with a no-knock warrant.

"Help me find it!" Urd ordered curtly.

"Find what, dear?" Frigga asked.

Urd responded by tearing clothes out of another drawer. "The ring!" she cried. "The ring he bought me! I want it!"

"Urd, honey," she whispered, putting her hands on Urd's back to try to comfort her.

The Norn pulled away angrily. "If you're not going to help, then get out!" she cried. Her chest heaved, and her head sagged. "It's all I have left of him... And I can't even find it! Why didn't I just... let him propose like he wanted to?! Oh, no! Can't have that! Had to be perfect! Now... Now, I can't even say I'm his widow, I'm just... just some goddess he slept with! Just another conquest for Urd the half-breed love goddess _slut!_"

"Urd!" Frigga cried, grabbing hold of her stepdaughter again. "You know that's not true! Sit down!"

She managed to pull the goddess away from the dresser and onto the bed, holding her tightly.

"Now, listen to me," she whispered, wiping at the Norn's face with a kerchief. "A ring is just a piece of jewelry," she said. "In the old days there were no rings or ceremonies. The melding, the blending of souls, that _was_ the marriage. You are already Nyd's wife in the eyes of the Almighty and everyone who matters."

"I don't even know how he died," Urd whispered hauntingly.

Frigga swallowed nervously. "The official word from Hild is that ... it was a tragic accident."

"It's so obvious a lie," Urd sniffled. "Hild's not even trying anymore."

"Well, you're not the only one saying so," she told her stepdaughter. "Eir is calling for the revocation of Doublet and demanding that the demons be made to pay a price." She sighed a moment later. "Of course, Hild's response is that _because_ of Doublet, they've already paid a price. When Nyd died, so did Hild's personal physician. She's also called for revoking Doublet. That in itself has scared everyone on the council but Eir and Lind into insisting that the system works exactly as it should and that Nyd's death must have been an unfortunate accident."

Urd stared down at the floor.

Frigga watched her sympathetically before bringing up the next topic. "There's going to be a memorial service," she said quietly. "Tomorrow in Heaven. Charity Square."

Urd didn't reply immediately. Finally, she whispered.

"I'm going down there."

Frigga nodded. "I'm sure Eir would like to see you there..."

"No," Urd corrected her. "I'm going down to Hell. I'm going to find out for myself what happened."

"Hild won't allow it," Frigga told her.

"She'll allow it," Urd said, rising to her feet. "She can allow it, or she can regret it."

Frigga took a deep breath. "I don't want to lose another daughter to that place," she said quietly.

Urd turned a narrow eye to her. "You'd know if you were going to," she said quietly.

The queen stiffened and looked away. The accusatory undertone in her words was impossible to miss. "Urd..."

"You knew," Urd whispered. She blinked back tears. "Didn't you?"

Frigga looked down at her lap and said nothing.

"That night on the roof, you seemed surprised that I asked about Belldandy," she said. "And that night in the hotel bar, I didn't make anything of it at the time, but when you told me Nyd would love me, you said he'd love me for the rest of _his_ life... not mine."

"Urd..."

"How long did you know?" Urd asked her. "How long did you know he was going to die?"

The godly queen took another deep breath and cleared her throat as tears came to her eyes. "I keep telling you," she said quietly, "That it's never exact. I get bits and pieces here and there, hints and guesses. But... I have known for quite some time that... that Nyd would widow you." She turned and faced her stepdaughter. "But I swear to you, Urd, I didn't know it would be so soon! Everything I saw suggested you would have longer together! I swear it!"

"How?" Urd demanded. "How could you have gotten that impression? Did you see me in a wedding dress?"

"Well... no," Frigga said evasively.

"Retirement party for Nyd?" Urd pressed. "Me in bifocals? What?"

"I shouldn't... I... I mean..." Frigga floundered.

"No, I want to know," Urd said angrily. "I want to know how you were so sure that Nyd and I would have a long and happy life together that you were willing to push us together even knowing that he was going to die! I want to know how you can justify knowing that and not saying anything!"

"I... I'd rather not say..."

"Tell me!"

"Urd..."

"Just tell me, dammit!" Urd cried, wrath replacing her grief. She grabbed her stepmother by the front of her dress. "What did you see?! You never tell anyone what you see! Well if I find out that you could have done something to prevent his death, I'll _never_ _ever forg..._"

"A CHILD! I SAW A CHILD, ALL RIGHT?!"

Urd blinked in shock. She released her stepmother as if the dress had burst into flames.

Frigga looked away in shame. "I... I just assumed he would come later... I mean..." She sniffled a little, angry at herself for making assumptions and at Destiny for only giving her stepdaughter a few days with the man she loved. "I mean... I didn't think you and he... so quickly... I..."

"We were only together a few days," Urd muttered in disbelief.

_How often is she wrong?_ Urd wondered. _Ask her! You need to know!_

Instead, Urd stood up and started for the door.

"Urd..."

"I'm going to Hell to see my fiance," she said. "I'll... I'll deal with this other thing later..."

888

Peorth slept fitfully, Tabitha snuggled into the crook of her arm. For three days she had searched the pit, looking for some way out, some crack in the walls or flaw in the design.

Nothing.

She had broken up this time by taking care of Tabitha, comforting the girl, telling her everything would be okay even though she didn't really believe it herself.

Two days ago she wasn't willing to give up hope.

One day ago she had to admit there was no way out of the pit unless someone let them out.

So she slept and tried to dream of something happier. But that wasn't working out so well. Metheus's face kept appearing in her mind, morphing into Black Jack's...

She heard water sloshing, and her head lolled to the side, her eyes opening. The goddess opened her mouth to scream, but the monster's hand clamped over her entire head and flung her aside like a rag doll. She fell into the water with a splash, and quickly swam to the surface.

When her head broke the surface, she saw the giant figure carrying the screaming Tabitha toward the grate.

"Non!" she screamed, swimming toward them. "Leave her alone!"

"PEORTH! PEORTH, HELP ME!"

The creature turned toward her and bellowed, the sound slamming into her like a sledgehammer. She covered her ears instinctively and sank beneath the surface. Recovering a moment later she kicked out and swam to the surface.

She spat out a mouthful or rancid water and turned just in time to see the grate shut. The goddess frantically swam toward it.

"TABITHA!"

The cry that responded sounded far away.

"Peorth!"

She grasped at the grate and pulled futilely at it.

"TABITHA!" she screamed after them.

There was no reply. The only sound left in the pit was her own breathing and the sound of dripping water.

888

Urd kept banishing the thought from her mind as she traveled through the official hardline and entrance into the demon realm. She couldn't afford to think about that possibility now. There was too much to do. Too many other things to worry about. If she entertained the thought, even for a moment, it was over. She'd break.

And she couldn't break now.

Nidhogg sensed her approach and scanned her, verifying her identity and ancestry. Satisfied, it opened the other end of the nexus and allowed her to enter, simultaneously alerting the Elite Guard that a VIP had arrived in Hell and requesting an honor guard.

She emerged in a flash of light and waited. Urd knew the score here. Things had to be done a certain way if she was going to make headway.

As it turned out, she didn't have to wait long. Two Elites appeared in the entranceway and bowed to her. She strode up to the two of them as if she were Hild herself and proceeded past them.

"I want to see Hild," she said simply.

The Elites formed up around her and allowed her to lead the way. It wasn't as if she didn't know her way around, she had spent much of her childhood here. She turned her head and blinked at the Elite on her right.

"Ash?" she asked. "Is that you?"

Ashaaalaamantasssa turned and nodded once before whispering in his language.

She let out a breath. "It's good to see you too," she said.

Before she could continue her conversation with her former bodyguard, they were at the throne room. Urd walked in like it belonged to her and found Hild speaking with several advisors. Unlike when Belldandy entered in the same situation, Hild held a finger up to her daughter, asking her to wait.

"I need to speak with you," Urd told her curtly.

"It's been a busy few days, Urd," Hild told her, not looking up from a document she was perusing. "We're rather busy."

"I'm not leaving until I've spoken with you," Urd growled.

Hild finally looked up. "Make it quick." She held a hand up and added something a moment later. "And if you're going to ask to see Belldandy, don't bother. I think you can guess to the answer for that."

Urd took a deep breath before continuing. "Nyd's body," she said. "I want to see it."

"Why?" Hild asked, going back to looking over the brief one of her advisors had put in front of her.

"It's my right," Urd hissed. "As his wife."

Hild lowered the document and raised her eyes to her daughter. "His wife?" she asked. "Funny, my wedding invitation must have been lost in the mail..."

"I didn't come here to fence with you," Urd said in annoyance, a tear forming in her eye despite her best efforts to rein it back. "I want to see his body. Now."

The archdemoness looked up again and finally waved her advisors away. She approached Urd and placed her hand on the Norn's shoulder. "A tragic accident, his death," she told Urd. "You have my sympathies."

Urd pulled away. "I wouldn't give a bucket of piss for your sympathy!" she hissed.

Hild frowned. "Every family has a rebellious child and an obedient child." She smiled a moment later. "I guess now we know which you're going to be."

The Norn said nothing. Finally, Hild rolled her eyes. "The Elite will take you to where we have him interred."

Urd turned and followed Ashaaalaamantasssa toward the throne room door.

"No 'thank you?'" Hild quipped.

"Piss off!" Urd cried over her shoulder.

888

Urd followed Ashaaalaamantasssa down several flights of stairs to the palace's basement, the section of the palace where the dead were interred. The Elite stopped next to the appropriate door and opened it for her.

The goddess hesitated a moment before walking in, Ashaaalaamantasssa following behind her.

A stone table stood in the center of the room; a black silk blanket covered the human-form lying on top of it.

Urd took a few deep breaths and stepped forward. Reaching down, she took the edge of the sheet and pulled back, letting out a constricted sob as Nyd's face met hers.

They hadn't even closed his eyes for him. The lifeless orbs stared up at her, the warmth she knew completely gone. The sigil on his forehead had been reduced to a black, oily stain, hinting to her what had killed him.

Her suspicion was confirmed a moment later when she pulled the blanket the rest of the way, revealing his chest. A black, rotting wound in his stomach filled with a congealing oil met her eyes, and she had to turn away for several moments, her hand over her mouth.

Ashaaalaamantasssa watched her for several moments, then saw her turn and gently rest her hand over his face, closing his eyelids.

"Ash," she said quietly. "This wound came from an Elite's lance. What happened here?"

The Elite whispered what he knew. He had not been in Belldandy's chamber that day and knew only what the others had told him.

"'His mistress ordered it,'" Urd repeated. She shut her eyes.

_Hild... Hild had him executed..._

Leaning down, she kissed her fiance's cold lips, her tears falling onto his cheeks. Standing again, she gently pulled the sheet over his body again.

"His things?" she asked quietly.

Ashaaalaamantasssa showed her where the god's personal things had been collected. She looked through them, hoping to find the ring he had promised her, but it wasn't there. Her heart ached. She wanted to wear his ring, to be his bride in something other than name.

Swallowing painfully, she rose to her full height and turned back to the Elite.

"I want to see Belldandy," she said, still fighting the sobs that threatened to overtake her.

The Elite shook his head and explained that that was impossible.

"Ash," Urd said firmly. "I never treated you the way Hild treated _her_ Elites. And you swore an oath of loyalty and protection to me." She turned to him. "Or does the oath of an Elite mean nothing?"

The bodyguard bristled and gave her words thought. Finally, he nodded and whispered.

She followed him out of the morgue and back up the steps toward the residential area of the palace. As they approached a door near where Hild kept her room, she saw two Elites standing guard.

They turned and raised their weapons as they approached. Ashaaalaamantasssa whispered to them, and they nodded, lowering their lances.

"I need to speak to her alone," Urd said.

Ashaaalaamantasssa shook his head and told her this time it truly was impossible. Since the "assassination attempt" no one was to be in the same room with Belldandy without at least two Elites present.

Urd nodded, knowing better than to push her luck too far. Ashaaalaamantasssa beckoned to another Elite, and the two entered the room ahead of the Norn.

888

Tabitha entered Metheus's office, slime and rancid water still dripping from her hair, and bowed low. "My Lord Inquisitor," she greeted happily.

Metheus rose from his chair and gestured for the demon-girl to take a seat. Leaning against the wall, Carestia watched with interest.

"How are you progressing?" Metheus asked.

"It goes well, My Lord," she said. "She is maternal and protective. I will ratchet things up a notch on my return. We should be able to really move in a day or so."

"What have you learned?" Carestia asked with a snort. "It's been three days. Is that all you know? She's maternal?"

Tabitha gave the former valkyrie a "please!" look and turned back to Metheus. "Despite the doubts of your teammate, My Lord, everything proceeds according to the plan we outlined."

"Except you've learned absolutely nothing," Carestia threw in. "I thought this little girl was your best interrogator?"

"This is more than an interrogation, Carestia," Metheus told her. "I've fought too hard to get Peorth to just put a round in her like a diseased animal. I want her calm, content and _obedient._"

Carestia looked from one to the other. "I don't get it."

"Tabitha is not playing just the role of interrogator," Metheus told her. "She is playing mole, interrogator... and hostage. In a few days' time, she'll respond to a threat against Tabitha here the way Belldandy did to one against Morisato. She'll beg to tell me everything she knows, confess everything."

The demonic warrior grinned. "I get it," she whispered, standing behind Tabitha. "You're going to be one big, happy, fucked up family!" She leaned down and pinched Tabitha's cheek. "That's so sweet... Oh, and bambina, you need a bath something fierce." Wiping her fingers on her pants, she stepped away from the putrid demon girl and shook her head at Metheus. "That's fucked up, Metheus. And they call _me_ crazy..."

"Call it what you wish," Metheus told her. "This is our greatest chance of success."

888

Belldandy heard the door open and close, but didn't turn, believing it to be just another meal being delivered to her. It wasn't until she heard her sister's voice that her eyes went wide and she sat up.

"Neesan!"

She jumped out of bed and threw herself into Urd's arms, sobbing hysterically. Urd held her gently, hugging her and fighting back tears of her own.

"Oh, Neesan!" Belldandy wept. "Neesan!"

"It's okay! Shhhh..." Urd whispered.

"I want to go home, Neesan!"

"I know," Urd whispered. "Trust me, we're working on it. You just have to hang on for a little while longer. Okay? We're going to get you out of here."

"I'm sorry!" Belldandy continued to sob. "I'm so sorry! Nyd san... I'm so sorry!"

Urd took her by the shoulders. "Belldandy..." she whispered, tears in her eyes. "What happened? What happened to him?"

Belldandy looked at her with haunted eyes, but couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead, she looked into her sister's eyes, found the immense pain and grief there...

...and realized the true depth of her actions.

She glanced down at her hand where Nyd's ring hugged her finger.

_Oh...Oh no..._ she thought. _It's Neesan's ring..._

"Belldandy, please," Urd begged. "I need to know."

The younger Norn swallowed back fresh tears and clung to her sister's shirt. "Oh, Neesan," she cried in anguish.

"Ashaaalaamantasssa said Hild ordered it," Urd went on.

Belldandy wrapped her arms around Urd as she cried. "He... He came here to me," she sobbed. "With a message from Father. He... The Almighty... wanted me to..." She started crying again.

"I know," Urd said. "And it's a screwed up plan, and don't you dare do it! Do you hear me?!"

Belldandy nodded and continued her story.

"I couldn't believe it. They wanted me to kill myself... My baby..." she wept and held her sister tightly, breathing her confession into her ear. "I... I lost control of my hate... Neesan..." She sobbed again. "Neesan, I did it... I called the Elites... I killed him... Neesan..." She hugged her sister and cried into her shoulder.

Urd went rigid and stood stock still as Belldandy cried.

The younger goddess continued to cry, holding her sister in the wake of her heartrending confession. Her eyes opened as she felt Urd take her wrists in her hands and forcefully pry the young woman off her, holding her away.

"N...Neesan..." Belldandy whispered painfully.

The pain, the grief, the anger on Urd's face made the older woman unrecognizable. It was if it was different goddess standing there.

"You?" Urd whispered incredulously. "You did that to him?"

"I'm so sorry, Neesan!" Belldandy cried. "I didn't mean it! I lost control of myself! Please understand! Please!"

Urd swallowed and released her sister's wrists. At first, Belldandy thought her sister might be forgiving her for her crime, but then Urd spoke again.

"I need to leave this room," she whispered without emotion. She turned to go.

Belldandy reached after her. "Neesan, please! I'm sorry! Please!"

Urd didn't turn back. She couldn't right now. She couldn't look her sister in the eye and forgive her. She stepped into the hallway, leaving Belldandy's pleading voice behind her. Leaning against the wall, she tried to choke back the wailing scream of agony that was steadily clawing its way out of her throat.

Something touched her arm, and she turned. Ashaaalaamantasssa waited there.

"Get me out of here, Ash," she begged. "Please."

The Elite took her arm and led her to the hardline nexus.

888

Peorth heard the grate open and turned just in time to see Tabitha's body dropping into the water like a sack of rocks. She jumped into the water as the grate closed over them. Wrapping her arm around the girl, she started pulling her back to the ledge.

Pushing the girl up out of the slime, Peorth pulled herself onto the ledge and checked the girl for injuries.

Tabitha's head lolled from side to side, her eyes fluttering. She reached up suddenly and hugged the goddess.

"Mama!"

Peorth wrapped her arms around the girl, stroking her hair. "It's okay, Petite. It's okay."

The goddess held the girl at arm's length, checking her for injuries. Just when she was sure the child was fine, she caught sight of something on her face.

A red stripe, like part of a demon's sigil, was on her left cheek. She tried to shake the girl awake. "Petite. Petite, what did they do to you?"

"Mmm... I don't... 'member..."

Peorth examined the mark and bit her lip. It wasn't _like_ a demonic mark, it _was_ a demonic mark. She heard heavy footfalls above them and looked up, wondering if the monster was coming back.

She held the girl close and let her sleep.

888

Skuld looked up as a spiral notebook hit the table top in front of her. Blinking, she looked up and jumped at the sight.

Urd looked down at her, her face an expressionless mask.

"Urd!" Skuld cried. "You're up and around!? I mean... That's great! I..."

The love goddess didn't wait for her to finish. "Everything's there," she said, tapping the notebook with her finger. "Maps, directions and things I saw. She's in the residential wing of the palace, near Hild's quarters. She has four Elites guarding her. I didn't see any alarms or traps in that wing, but that's no guarantee. It's all in there, everything you need from me."

Skuld blinked and thumbed through the notebook. "Um... Yeah! This is great!"

Urd nodded. "Good. I'm out." She turned and started for the door.

"Huh? Wait!" Skuld cried, hopping up out of her chair and going after her. "Urd! Wait!"

The Norn stopped at the door as Skuld grabbed her arm. "Whaddya mean you're _out!?_" she demanded.

"I mean I'm done," Urd whispered. "I'm not going in."

"What?! Why not?! Urd!"

Keiichi saw the exchange and walked over. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Urd says she's not going in!" Skuld cried. "How can you say that!? She's our sister! How can..."

Keiichi put a hand on Skuld's shoulder. "Skuld, let me talk to Urd for a minute, okay?"

The confused girl looked back and forth between them before licking her lips nervously and storming off.

Keiichi touched Urd's shoulder. "Urd... What's going on?" he asked softly.

Urd paused for a moment. "I just got back from Hell," she said. "I saw Belldandy... And I saw Nyd..."

"Okay," he whispered. "I know you're upset, but..."

She shook her head. "No, you don't understand, Keiichi." She looked down at him. "She's gone. She's not Belldandy anymore. She's just not..."

"What are you talking about?" Keiichi asked.

Urd bit her lip angrily. "She killed him."

"What?" Keiichi asked, blinking. "Make sense, Urd..."

"But he didn't just die, Keiichi," she said. "Elite lances are laced with a spiritual disruption agent..."

"Urd, I don't..."

She didn't let him interrupt. "... It causes a kind of coagulation of the spirit, literally a hardening of the soul..."

"Urd... Urd, we don't have..."

She shut her eyes painfully and went on. "It spreads from the entry wound and moves throughout the body, rending the soul from the body as painfully as..."

"Urd, please, let's find Frigga and just talk to..."

"Do you understand what that means, Keiichi?" she asked calmly.

"Urd..."

"Do you understand what they did?"

"No, Urd, listen..."

She suddenly grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pushed him against the wall. "THEY MUTILATED HIM!" she screamed, tears running down her face. Everyone else in the room suddenly looked up at them. "THEY MUTILATED HIS SOUL WHILE HE WAS STILL ALIVE!" She started to sob. "And they did it because _she_ told them to..."

Keiichi stood there stunned as Urd leaned forward and hugged him, crying into his shoulder.

"She told them to..." she blubbered.

The college student swallowed and wrapped his arms around the Norn. "Shhhh," he whispered. "Shhhh."

Skuld rushed up with Frigga in tow.

"Urd!" Frigga cried. "Urd, come here..." She took her stepdaughter's arm and gently pulled her off the boy. "Come here. Mama's got you. It's okay."

Skuld and Keiichi watched as Frigga led the Norn into the bedroom.

888

Keiichi's head shot up an hour later as Frigga opened the bedroom door and stepped out, her face wet with tears. She saw Keiichi and approached him.

"She wants to talk to you," she said quietly. The goddess placed a hand on his chest. "Keiichi... son... She's not herself. Her soul is ragged with grief and pain. Keep that in mind, all right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Frigga left him alone, and he stepped up and knocked on the door.

"Come in, Keiichi."

Pulling the door open, he stepped inside and found Urd lying in bed, staring out the window. Keiichi watched her for several moments, but she said and did nothing. Finally, he whispered.

"Urd?"

She didn't turn to him. "Belldandy's pregnant," she said simply.

Two words. It took all of two words to put Keiichi on his butt on the floor in the middle of the room. He sat there, shaking his head.

_Pregnant? Is... Is that even possible? She's a goddess, I'm a human... I mean..._

A horrifying thought struck him. "Is... Is it mine or... Or did they... I mean..."

"It's yours," Urd told him. "We suspected for awhile. We didn't tell you because I thought hearing it would drive you over the edge, make you do something we'd all regret. Besides, even Nyd couldn't guess for sure."

He swallowed, both ecstatic and horrified simultaneously. "Then... why are you telling me this now?"

She still wouldn't face him. "Because it changes everything," she said. "You were the center of her universe. Not anymore. Now the baby is. And that makes her very dangerous."

Finally, she turned to face him, and Keiichi saw how thin and gaunt she looked. Her normally bronze complexion was ashen, as if the grief at Nyd's death and learning who had caused it were eating her alive.

"Belldandy would have let Creation burn to keep you safe, Keiichi," she explained. "To keep that baby safe, she'll gladly light the tinder herself. She will do anything to protect it." She swallowed painfully. "She... She killed Nyd... to protect it. You are the only one with a chance of bringing her back. But don't overestimate yourself in her eyes."

He nodded, unsure of what to say.

"Will you come with us?" he asked. "Please, Urd..."

She blinked back fresh tears. "Keiichi, I'm trying... I'm trying very hard to forgive her." She closed her eyes. "But I have demon blood in me too. And my anger... and my hate... They won't let me... Not yet."

"Urd... I don't think we can do this without you."

"Just remember what I said," she whispered. She turned away again.

It was an obvious dismissal. Gathering himself, Keiichi turned and walked out the door. Frigga and the others waited there, watching him, wondering what he would say.

He cleared his throat. "I'm... going to be a father," he said, smiling painfully.

Frigga stepped up and hugged him. "We're getting her back," she said. "We're getting them both back."

"Yes we are," Miranda spoke up. "We step in three days."

This pronouncement shocked the others. "Will we be ready?" Gaeriel asked.

"We've no choice," Miranda told them. "My instincts tell me things are changing, changing rapidly. If we don't go soon, we're going to lose our chance. That means we go now."

"We need Urd," Keiichi told her.

"I know," Miranda replied. "We need a lot of things. I've spent two hundred years planning this. I don't want to rush into it anymore than you do, don't want to go without having every possible advantage we can get... But I trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me Heaven and Hell are heading for blood, an ocean of blood. We have to go... now."

Gaeriel nodded. "Then we go."

Skuld sighed. "Three days to get all that stuff, huh? Well... they don't call me a genius for nothing."

Keiichi walked to the window and looked out.

_We're coming, Belldandy. Hang on._

888

The storm had been fierce.

Debris, broken furniture and glass, stones ripped from the walls littered the floor of Belldandy's room. The storm had come up suddenly, on the heels of Urd's departure. Like a squall at sea, there had been no real warning, just a sudden darkness and then violent winds...

Belldandy, the center of that storm, sat on the broken remains of her bed and contemplated her future.

There had been a benefit to the storm, her rampage of hate, anger and bitterness. Like any rain storm, it had cleansed her. After weeks of trying to hold it down, to rein it back, she had let loose and let it rage until it had exhausted itself.

And in that weakened state, she was herself again, and that let her think clearly. In that eye of the storm, as raging winds were once again warm breezes, she knew what she needed, what she had to do.

No matter the risk.

She raised her head as Ssselessmeshala quietly picked his way through the wreckage toward her. He stared at her for a moment and then dropped to his knees, bending forward until his head was on the stone tiles.

Belldandy listened as he whispered to her for several minutes. She took a breath. Had he appeared to her thirty minutes ago, she likely would have taken his offer to "make amends" and killed him herself. But now she knew the way...

She knelt next to him. "Ssselessmeshala," she whispered. "I forgive you."

The Elite raised his eyes to her and saw truth there, not the kind of smug arrogance he often saw in their other mistress, but true forgiveness.

She looked down at her hand, at the diamond that twinkled there.

"But I must make amends now as well," she told him. "And I need your help. Will you help me?"

The bodyguard looked up at her and nodded.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "There is danger..."

He hissed dismissively at this.

She rose to her full height. "Then we should get started."


	23. In and Out of Love

Disclaimer: I don't own AMG.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 23**_

_**In and Out of Love**_

* * *

**"You always find your true path on the far side of suffering..."**

_Belldandy_

_Childhood's End_

* * *

Peorth looked at the girl's unconscious face, examining the second demonic mark directly opposite the first one. She swallowed nervously. They had taken Tabitha again for almost two hours, and she had come back knocked out, just like before.

Tabitha's head lolled to the side, and her eyes started to flutter.

"Tabitha," Peorth whispered. "Tabitha, can you hear me?"

"Mama?" the girl groaned. "Mama, it hurts... Make them stop..."

The whimpering broke Peorth's heart. "Mama's trying," she assured the girl. "What did they do?"

"It hurts," Tabitha whimpered again. "Please make them stop..."

"Okay, Petite," Peorth whispered. "Okay." She held the girl close and hugged her, listening carefully for the sound of the monster.

Whatever they were doing to her, it was weakening the girl. If they continued much longer, she wasn't sure Tabitha would survive.

She was going to have to do something she didn't want to do.

888

Skuld cracked her knuckles and put her fingers on the holotop.

"Okay, Skuld," she breathed. "You are one with the net..."

"What are you doing?" Keiichi whispered, coming up behind her.

Skuld cried out in surprise and turned. "Keiichi!" She took a deep breath and glowered at him. "If you must know, I'm hacking into the Combat Division for that intel Miranda needs."

She turned back to the computer as Keiichi lit a cigarette. "Oh yeah? How's it going?"

The goddess snorted, her fingers never slowing on the keys. "Need you ask? Please! I'll have you know my brilliance in network subsystems is unparalleled! I'm... I'm like an internet ninja!"

"Internet ninja?" Keiichi asked, a resigned look on his face.

"That's right!" Skuld asked. "Sneak in undetected! Get the information I need! Then I'm out again! Did you see that password hack!? What password hack?! That firewall!? Dead! You didn't see _anything!_ No one did!"

Keiichi took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going over here now." He turned and walked away.

"Net ninja!" Skuld cried as she typed. "One hundred percent stealth! Undetectable!"

888

Lind was staring up at the main viewer in the Tactical Operations Center when Gwydion stepped up to her.

"Commander?" the older avenging angel asked. "What are you doing?"

The Division commander's eyes didn't leave the screen as she replied. "I'm watching Skuld try to break into the Division battlenet."

"What?!" Gwydion asked, looking up at the screen in alarm. Sure enough, the battlenet was tracking a user trying to work their way into the main database. He reached for the nearest phone. "NOSC, Combat! This is the XO! Pull the battlenet ser..."

"Cancel that," Lind said calmly.

"Commander, if we're being attacked..."

She held a hand up, bidding her old teacher to calm down. "There's no danger," she said. "The first time she starts downloading anything dangerous, I can shut her down from here. I'm interested in seeing what she's trying to get."

"You're sure it's the Norn girl?" Gwydion asked.

Lind nodded. "When Nidhogg attacks, he prefers a brute force attack. Smash through the firewalls, takes what he needs and leaves. This young hacker is trying to be stealthy, but her approach suggests a lack of... experience. I traced the source. It's from their hotel on Earth."

"So what is she trying to get?" the colonel asked.

"I'm not certain," Lind told him. "Thus far, she hasn't been able to get through Firewall Green..."

"I see," he grunted. "Nothing to worry about, I guess. Green is hard enough for _our_ guys to break, let alone an amateur..."

Lind picked up the phone. "NOSC, Combat," she said. "This is the Commander. I want you to take Firewall Green offline for maintenance."

She hung up and turned to the shocked expression on her teacher's face. Shrugging slightly, she explained.

"I don't have all night. If I'm going to see what she wants, she's going to need some help."

He eyed her uncertainly. "If I didn't know better, young lady, I'd say you were trying to give her a leg up on something."

She arched an eyebrow. "We have been ordered to do nothing," she told him. "They have not. Besides, Firewall Green probably needs maintenance anyway."

Gwydion smiled.

888

Peorth's head whipped around as something big hit the water nearby. She saw the glowing portholes in the monster's mask coming toward them.

Tabitha started whimpering and clung to Peorth desperately. The goddess placed herself between the monster and the girl, waving her arms to get its attention.

"Hey! Hey!" she cried at it as it approached. "Don't take her! I want to talk to Metheus! I want to talk to Metheus!"

The creature reached out with a massive hand, enveloping the goddess in its metallic mitt and squeezing.

"Peorth!" Tabitha screamed.

The love goddess cried out in pain as the monster lifted her out of the water and examined her.

"I want to talk to Metheus," she gasped out. "Tell him I want to talk... Tell him..."

The creature regarded her for a moment before dumping her back into the water and turning away, giving a blast from its demonic horn as it climbed out of the pit. The grate slammed down again with a crash.

Tabitha rushed to Peorth, who was pulling herself back onto the ledge. The goddess gasped as she tried to pull air back into her lungs. She reached out and hugged Tabitha.

"What now?" Tabitha asked.

"I guess... I guess we wait."

It was a tense, but short wait. No more than thirty minutes later, the grate opened again, and the monster jumped back into the pit. Peorth stood up, ready to argue with it again if it grabbed for Tabitha, but instead, it reached out with its brass claws and took hold of the goddess.

Tabitha tried to hold onto her, pulling on her arm, but the monster knocked her away. She swam after them, crying Peorth's name, but the monster didn't listen. It dragged the love goddess up and shut the grate behind it.

Tabitha smiled.

888

"You are certain she lives here?" Belldandy asked Ssselessmeshala as they walked through the capital.

The Elite nodded as they stopped by a specific door. Belldandy paused and silently asked herself if this was truly the path. She couldn't say for sure. The goddess only knew that her hate storm had shown her something, something awful, but at the same time, something very true. Hate wasn't an end, but an obstacle to overcome.

She raised her hand and knocked on the door.

A moment later, the door slid open, and Carestia's dark eyes were looking into her own. It was obvious that Belldandy had caught the former valkyrie off-duty, as she was wearing a blood red silk nightgown and a wine goblet was held in her fingers.

Carestia blinked in surprise, but brightened. "Principessa," she greeted. "How... unexpected."

"Good morning, Carestia san," Belldandy greeted politely. "I would like to speak with you. May I come in?"

"May I ask what it is you would like to discuss?" Carestia asked.

"Something we have in common," Belldandy told her.

A predatory smile graced the demoness's face. "Very well," she whispered. "Please come in."

Belldandy lifted her skirt and started inside, her four Elites beginning to file in behind her. She turned and lifted a hand. "Ssselessmeshala, you come. The rest of you please stay out here."

As one, they bowed and set up a perimeter while Ssselessmeshala followed her inside.

The goddess looked over the living room of Carestia's quarters. Decorative gold statues and artwork lined the walls while a love seat made of crimson velvet sat in the center of the room. The demoness went to a cabinet where an array of wines and liqueurs were waiting for guests.

"Can I get you something?" Carestia asked. "No alcohol, of course," she purred. "Given your... condition."

Ssselessmeshala stood near the door while Belldandy stood in the center of the room near the love seat.

"I would love some tea," she said.

"I have water and I have booze," Carestia told her with an evil grin. "Water it is." She handed Belldandy a glass of clear liquid.

Ssselessmeshala hissed quickly and reached out, taking the glass from the goddess. The Elite sniffed it and took a quick drink. Hissing in satisfaction, he handed it back to Belldandy with a bow.

"You've trained your pet well," Carestia noted.

"Ssselessmeshala takes his role of protector... very seriously," Belldandy allowed with only a touch of sadness.

"So," Carestia breathed, moving in closer to Belldandy. "Let's talk. Woman to woman... hmm?"

"Hai," Belldandy replied quietly. "Carestia, I am sorry I did not come sooner. I didn't realize until just recently what it was you wanted."

"Oh?" the warrior asked breathlessly, running a hand up Belldandy's arm.

"Hai," Belldandy said again. "When you and I first met, I saw a... look... in your eyes. A desire... Something I didn't recognize... Until recently when I looked in the mirror and saw that same look. It's something you and I have in common."

Carestia smiled and leaned forward, quietly purring into Belldandy's ear. "I see... I'm glad you've seen it." She moved her lips very close to Belldandy's hair, allowing her breath to tickle the Norn's ear.

"Hai, it's why I've come," Belldandy whispered. "To hopefully give you what it is you desire most..."

"And tell me," the demoness purred. "In vivid detail... What do I want?"

Belldandy turned her head so that their eyes met. "Forgiveness," she said quietly.

Carestia blinked and took a step back, eyeing the goddess warily. "Forgiveness?" she asked with a mirthless smile.

"Hai," Belldandy went on. "The look I saw in your eyes when you captured me, it was a desire for forgiveness. Forgiveness for things you've done for which you fear you can never make amends. My eyes carry that look now as well."

"I seek no forgiveness," Carestia laughed, turning away.

"For people you've killed that you know you should not have," Belldandy went on.

Carestia threw her nose in the air. "I kill when I please and I kill whom I please!" she said haughtily. "As a demon, it is my right!"

"But you are not a demon," Belldandy told her. "You are a goddess, and that is why you feel what you feel. It is natural for demons to kill, it is their role." She reached out and took Carestia's hands. "For a goddess, it is an unnatural act, one that bruises the soul."

Carestia's hands pulled from the goddess's and curled into fists. "Not mine," she growled. "I am what I am! I revel in it! I relish the feelings it gives me! Who are you?! Who are you to lecture to me what I am!?"

Belldandy wasn't fazed by her anger. "I do not want to lecture you," Belldandy told her. "I want to forgive you."

"What?!"

She took Carestia's hands again and closed her eyes. "Carestia... I forgive you."

888

The recovery agents pushed her, and Peorth stumbled through the door to Wynn's room, hitting the carpeted floor. The goddess was weak and exhausted after days in the pit, but she was resolved to do this.

"Peorth?"

She raised her head, still slick with water and rancid slime. Metheus was kneeling over her with a towel, wrapping it around her. She fought back the urge to shove him away. Tabitha was counting on her.

"Wynn," she breathed.

He frowned at her condition. "I didn't want this, Peorth," he told her.

Her mind was screaming every French curse she knew, but outwardly she nodded. "I know... Wynn... I'm sorry..."

The rampant helped her to her feet and led her to a nearby chair. "We can talk all about that," he said comfortingly. He sat opposite her and regarded her carefully as she shivered under the towel. "Peorth... nothing has changed. I need to know what you've done..."

_Connard! Bite! _

She swallowed and nodded. "Wynn... I did sneak out. Your friend, Krieg, asked me to help him with three goddesses he had... kept..." She looked away, feigning shame. "He... He forgot to reset my limiter when we were done, and I... took advantage of it..."

He listened closely as she spoke. "And you saw Belldandy?"

Peorth nodded. "But it did no good," she said. "She was like you said, too far gone." She took a breath. "Wynn... I'm sorry. I didn't want to betray you, but my duty as a goddess means I had to try..."

He didn't buy it, but he nodded. Tabitha could root out the whole truth later. Right now he needed to reestablish trust.

"I believe you," he lied.

Peorth leaned forward and reached out to him. "Wynn," she breathed. "Please forgive me. I don't want to give up on us..." She wasn't sure if she was lying or not.

Metheus looked away as if dealing with an upswell of emotion. Finally, he took her hand and nodded. "All right, Fleur," he said quietly. "But if we do, are you ready to give up on this mission to get Belldandy?"

"Oui," she said demurely.

"And you will not 'assist' Krieg anymore, understand?"

She nodded. "Oui," she whispered.

He bit his lip and nodded. "Okay." Smiling, he said it again with more feeling. "Okay. We'll try again."

She smiled. "Thank you, Wynn. I love you so much." The words sounded so hollow to her it nearly broke her heart. But she had something else to worry about. "Wynn... I know I have no right to ask, but I must..." She paused dramatically before continuing. "In the pit with me was a young girl, Tabitha. What are you doing to her?"

He took a breath and leaned back. "Ah," he said. Biting his lip, he stood up and went to his computer, bringing up a new file. "Yeah, that's what I thought," he muttered. "She's part of an experiment. Our Vectors think that if you catch a god young enough you can manipulate their spirit and force them demonic without them having to go rampant first."

"They're turning her into a demon?" Peorth asked, blinking.

He looked up at her. "Yes."

She swallowed and stood up, leaning over his desk and _trying_ to be alluring considering she was coated with filthy water and gunk. "Wynn, you can put a stop to this," she said. "They're hurting her. She's just a child..."

"What would you have me do?" he asked. "Don't get me wrong, Fleur, I want to help. But we can't send her back without Heaven figuring out what we were doing with her... And I don't think you want us to eliminate her..."

Peorth bit her lip and went all in. "I can take care of her," she said. "_We_ can take care of her, Wynn."

He leaned back in his chair and arched an eyebrow. "We can?"

She nodded. "She has no one else! Please?"

Metheus rapped his knuckles on his desk. "If I do this, you will be responsible for her."

"Oui!"

He tapped the comm unit on his wrist, and a recovery agent appeared at his door. "Go to the pit," he ordered the demon. "There you will find a girl named..." He turned to Peorth, feigning forgetfulness.

"Tabitha," Peorth supplied helpfully.

"Tabitha," Metheus repeated. "Bring her here at once."

"Yes, my lord."

They waited silently, both aware that despite what each of them said, there was still a palpable air of suspicion over them both. Finally, after twenty minutes of waiting, the recovery agent returned, pushing Tabitha into the room.

"Peorth!" She ran up and hugged the goddess, who had knelt down to greet her. Afterward, she turned toward Metheus and shied away, seeking protection from Peorth.

"Tabitha," Peorth began quietly. "This is my..." She swallowed and cleared her throat before continuing. "...my very good friend, Wynn."

Metheus smiled down at her. "Hello, Tabitha," he said, crouching down next to her. "Peorth thinks you might want to live with us. Would you like that?"

The girl said nothing, but nodded.

The rampant smiled. "Good. I'm glad." He stood up and motioned the recovery agent forward. The demon placed new earrings on Peorth and Tabitha. "Trackers," Metheus explained. "I don't think we need the limiter anymore. This is home now, after all."

Peorth blinked, confused at the sudden reversal.

"I have other duties," the rampant went on. "And you two could use a bath." He walked up to Peorth and leaned in, but the goddess intercepted him and kissed him on the cheek. She wasn't willing to forgive him _that_ much yet.

He smiled stiffly and walked out the door with the recovery agent in tow.

"Are we going to be okay?" Tabitha asked her, still frightened by the strangeness of it all.

Peorth smiled down at her. "Oui, Petite. I think we're going to be okay."

_For now..._ she finished silently.

888

"You _forgive_ me?" Carestia asked with a cold smile. "I didn't ask for your forgiveness, and I don't want it." She turned from the goddess.

"If not mine, than whose?" Belldandy asked.

"What?" Carestia asked, whipping back toward her.

Belldandy stood her ground. "I am not so... arrogant... that I believe that I caused that look in your eyes," she said. "I forgive you, Carestia, but there is someone else, someone whom you fear to face. Someone whose forgiveness you desperately want but don't believe you can ever attain."

Carestia's face contorted in anger and pain. "Stay out of my head," she hissed.

The goddess shook her head. "I am not in your head, I promise!" she cried. "I know." Her head drooped forward. "I know I will never earn my sister's forgiveness..." She looked up again. "But if I don't try, then I know I will never _deserve_ it!"

The rampant stepped up and went toe-to-toe with the goddess. "When I want forgiveness, I'll call a priest. When I want meaningless talk... I'll call a goddess." She turned away again. "And since you're not here to grant me my more immediate wish, I bid you good day." She waved to Belldandy dismissively.

Belldandy glanced to the ground and gave the woman a short bow. "I see. Good bye, Carestia. I hope you can find forgiveness." With that, she turned and left the apartment.

Once she was gone and the door safely closed behind her, Carestia cried out in rage and flung her goblet against the wall.

888

Tabitha giggled as Peorth splashed her in the tub, the sound forcing a smile out of the love goddess. They'd had to fill and empty the bath several times after washing the slime from their bodies before they felt the water was clean enough to just soak.

Peorth watched the girl happily. Cleaning up in relative safety had done wonders for the girl's spirit. She watched as the little girl hopped out of the tub and ran up to the mirror, examining the demonic marks on her face.

"Peorth, what are these?" she asked innocently.

The love goddess smiled. "Those... Those are beauty marks, Petite," she said. "It means you're growing up."

"Beauty marks?" Tabitha asked, blinking. She grinned and turned back to Peorth. "Does that mean I'm pretty, Peorth?!"

"Of course," Peorth told her, reaching up to wash her hair again.

"As pretty as you?!"

The love goddess smiled. "Prettier."

Tabitha giggled and preened in front of the mirror. The goddess stood up and dried herself with a towel. Wrapping the towel around herself, she walked into the bedroom and found two dresses on the bed with a note.

_Fleur,_

_Borrowed these from a friend. Left enough gold for you and Tabitha to get more. I'll see you tonight._

_Metheus_

Peorth picked up the dress, a simple but elegant black and red one piece that covered far too much, in her opinion. Throwing it on, she found the small purse of gold Metheus had left and couldn't believe her luck. She could move about freely and she had resources.

She started for the door. If she hurried, she might be able to get to Belldandy before...

"Peorth? Where are you going?"

Her fingers were on the doorknob when Tabitha's voice reached her ears, and the truth came suddenly crashing down on her. No wonder... No wonder he was willing to give her some freedom...

She turned. "Nowhere, Petite," she said with a smile. "Excuse me." She walked past the confused girl and into the bathroom. She held the sink with both hands and looked at herself in the mirror.

_Trapped,_ she thought. Before she was only risking herself, and she was willing to take that risk. But now... Metheus knew she would never move if there was even the ghost of a chance that Tabitha would face retaliation. He was using the girl as a hostage and smiled the entire time.

She clutched at the sink and took a breath. This changed things. This changed _everything._

What were her options? Continue as planned and hope Metheus and Black Jack wouldn't follow through on what she knew they would do? Escape? If escape was hard enough by herself it would be nearly impossible with a child in tow...

Give up?

Unacceptable!

Then what could she do?

_The goal hasn't changed,_ she thought. _I still have to turn Metheus back into Wynn... Perhaps..._

She felt a tug in her heart, something tickling a dark thought within her.

_Perhaps... over time?_

The goddess looked at herself in the mirror as she contemplated it. _Is it wrong to think... that maybe over time... his heart would soften? Perhaps... that with the love of a wife... and daughter... he could be pulled back to the light?_

_You realize what you're considering?_ she asked herself.

It would take years, but if she whittled away at his heart over time, he could realize that what he had done was wrong, perhaps even enough to give up demonhood. Then they could all return to Heaven together...

_A dream!_

_But a dream worth chasing!_ she thought. _They both need someone, someone who can heal them, heal their hearts! I can be that someone..._

Her reflection stared back at her. _You're talking about giving up your FREEDOM...Belldandy's freedom..._

_Belldandy's gone..._

She took a breath at the statement. It meant giving up.

_Not giving up, shifting priorities..._

There was gentle knock at the door. "Peorth?" a frightened little voice asked. "Are you okay?"

Peorth took a breath and smiled. "I'm fine," she called back. "Let's go out for a bit, oui?"

888

"All in all, it seems to be going well," Metheus said. "They're downtown, shopping like mother and daughter." He smiled almost sadly.

He looked up from his office desk and found Carestia leaning against the wall, staring off into space. She hadn't said a word since she came on duty, lost in thought.

"What is it?" he asked.

She gave him an irritated look. "You went too far," she said quietly.

He blinked. "What?"

The former valkyrie turned, her arms folded over her chest. "You're not manipulating her love for you anymore," she hissed. "It's a mother's love your toying with now."

Metheus shook his head incredulously. "What in Hild's name is wrong with you?!" he asked. "First Krieg, now you?!"

"Nothing is wrong with me," she bit back.

He approached and took her by the shoulders. "Bullshit!" he growled. "Talk to me!"

She shook away from him. "Don't touch me," she said. "I don't belong to you. And you're still making a mistake."

With that, she stormed out of his office.

888

"How is it going?"

Skuld looked up from the holotop and rubbed her eyes. "Slowly," she admitted. "But I managed to get those aerial maps you wanted. They're downloading now."

Miranda nodded. "Any idea if you've been detected?"

She grinned. "They don't have a clue."

"Hmm," the former valkyrie officer remarked, not sure if she believed it.

Skuld bit her lip and turned back to the computer, typing slowly. Miranda cocked her head and studied the girl's face.

"What troubles you?" she asked.

The Norn let out a breath. "I was just thinking about Urd," she said quietly. She swallowed. "I mean... I've never seen her like this... like _that_..." The young goddess shook her head as the images and sound returned to her, her older sister, always so confident and brash, weeping, crying out for mama...

"Doctor Nyd was special to her," Miranda reminded her. "It's natural."

Skuld arched an eyebrow. "Now you decide to have a heart?" she asked, regretting it a moment later when the freelancer turned an eye on her.

"You're weren't alive during the last war," she reminded her. "Every house lost at least one god or goddess to the fighting, most lost several. When it happens enough, you start to realize that your reaction to it isn't quite what it used to be. You don't feel as... as devastated... and you hate yourself for it."

Skuld looked morosely down at her keyboard. She couldn't imagine being that jaded.

"There are those who say, Skuld, that valkyries aren't real goddesses."

The Norn blinked at the words. Miranda continued.

"You see, gods and goddesses preserve life, they revel in the glow of living things," she said. "Killing is unnatural to them, wrong on a fundamental level, and yet valkyries bask in a different light, revel in battle, flow with the rhythm of the bloodsong. Maybe... I don't have a heart."

Skuld thought on this for several moments before looking up at the war goddess again.

"If you didn't have a heart," she whispered, "You wouldn't even be here now."

"Perhaps," Miranda allowed, turning to leave. "Or perhaps I'm just so AURAF, I can't leave a mission incomplete."

Skuld blinked. "'Auraf?' What the heck is that?"

888

The two Nidhogg technicians straightened in their chairs as Carestia walked in. The rampant goddess was known to fly off the handle at a perceived slight, and they had learned long ago that the only person you treated better when they walked into your section was Hild.

"Have you started the daily probe already?" she asked casually, confusing the techs.

"We started just now, Milady," one tech told her.

Carestia nodded. "I see," she said. "Is it too late to submit a request?"

"No, Ma'am!" the other tech jumped. "We'll make do!"

She handed him a piece of paper. "Nothing special," she told him, looking rather uncomfortable about the request. "I just need a bio... and a picture if possible."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the tech replied again. He turned and entered the name on the paper into Nidhogg's search function just as the dark tree was making its hack into Yggdrasil. As it searched for intel, it had plenty of leftover processing power to search for the bio, and the tech marked it, "PRIORITY."

The information appeared on the screen next to a picture of a young god with black hair wearing a valkyrie uniform.

"'Meness,'" the tech read aloud as Carestia's eyes fixed on the face. "Valkyrie. Assigned to Task Force Pegasus." The tech turned to her. "Seraphim pilot."

Carestia took a breath and squared her shoulders as she whispered.

"Like his mother..."

"Milady?"

"Continue as you were," she snapped, turning on her heel and storming out of the operations center.

The techs looked to one another and shrugged.


	24. Another Reason to Believe

Disclaimer: AMG isn't mine.

Foreword: Updates are going to be slow for awhile. I'm back at work full time now and I'm working on a comedy fic, "Scordatura," at the same time. The problem with writing a long, dark fic is that you need to do something uplifting every so often so you don't see it as work.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 24**_

_**Another Reason to Believe**_

* * *

**"Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore."**

_Commander William Adama_

_Battlestar Galactica_

* * *

Urd sighed and squeezed Nyd's hand as she opened her eyes to take a peek at their angels, smiling at the sight of her higher self adamantly refusing to take no for an answer and demanding another kiss from Haud Vulnero.

Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the pillow, relishing the feelings the melding of their souls gave her. She heard Nyd release a breath he had been holding and felt the warm air cross her face. She smiled and opened her eyes again.

She squeezed his hand again. Had it all been a dream? A horrible nightmare brought on by her anxiety? The goddess leaned in and kissed him as World of Elegance did the same for Nyd's angel.

"You're not going anywhere," she whispered, squeezing his hand again.

"Where would I go?" he asked.

She smiled. "And I want that ring," she said. "I know what I said, but..." She broke off as she saw a pained look cross his face. "Nyd?"

He shut his eyes and grimaced. His other hand went to his stomach, pulling his shirt aside. Urd looked down and saw a black, oily gash spreading across his abdomen.

"Oh, god," she breathed. "Nyd!"

She squeezed his hand as the sigil on his forehead burned away and the skin of his face started to blacken. His flesh started to flake away like burnt newspaper.

Looking down, her eyes went wide in horrified shock as she saw the blackness run through the hand she had been holding and into her own. The spiritual poison had moved through their melding. She watched, tears in her eyes as her arms started to blacken and flake away.

"Nyd!"

"NYD!" she screamed, her eyes flying open as she sat up in bed. She looked down at her arms as she tried to control her breathing. It had only been a nightmare. She shut her eyes and started to cry.

And she wasn't alone. Though she was facing away from the door and toward the window, she could feel the presence of the elder goddess sitting nearby. She wiped her eyes and tried to gather some strength.

"I told you, Frigga," she said quietly. "I don't want to talk right now."

"Then... may I talk?"

Urd blinked. The voice was familiar, but only barely so. She turned to the chair next to the bed, and instead of seeing her stepmother there, she saw a familiar blonde goddess in white and red robes, the same cut Nyd had worn as a healer.

"Eir," Urd breathed.

The elder goddess's eyes were red and puffy, and Urd wondered if she, like the Norn, had been crying for five straight days as well. The answer came to her immediately. Of course she had been. Urd wasn't the only one in pain. She had lost a fiancé. Eir had buried her only son.

"Please forgive me," Eir said hesitantly. "You were asleep when I arrived and I asked your mother if may sit with you for awhile."

"Oh," Urd replied stupidly. She pulled the covers to herself again.

"Urd," Eir began again. "I wanted to speak with you... because my son loved you very much. I could see that much in his eyes."

Urd nodded, giving her permission to continue.

"I confess," Eir said, turning away from her for a moment. "That... I was less than enthused when I found out that Frigga wanted to pair Nyd with you."

"I know," Urd said.

"But after hearing what you did for him," she went on. "Going to the demon realm to see his body... I know now that I was wrong to feel that way."

"You weren't wrong," Urd told her quietly. "Nyd deserved better than me."

"Nyd deserved to be loved by a good goddess, and he was," Eir told her. "Frigga told me he proposed to you... beyond the Pairing, I mean."

Urd nodded.

Eir sat next to her on the bed. "You melded with him?" she asked.

The Norn nodded again.

She reached out and placed her hand on Urd's shoulder. "Then that makes us family," Eir told her, tears in her eyes. "That means you're a part of my household now, and I warmly welcome you to it."

Urd looked at her with hollow eyes.

Eir leaned over and hugged her. "If you ever need anything," she said. "Anything at all, you come to me. You are my daughter-in-law, my son's precious wife... and I love you."

Urd couldn't believe what she was hearing. She searched Eir's eyes for falsehood, but found only sincerity and love there.

The older goddess bit her lip. "You're grieving, and you need rest," she said, rising to her feet. "I will see you again." She started for the door.

"Eir," Urd called after her. The older goddess stopped at the door and turned back to her.

"I do need something," Urd went on. "I... I need a healer."

Eir smiled a little. "As it so happens, I know a small bit of healing," she quipped. "What ails you?"

Urd looked up at her, unsure if she was ready to find out the truth yet or not. "There is a chance," she began slowly. "That... That I am carrying Nyd's son."

888

Hild stopped smiling as she came upon Belldandy's door and found no Elites there. The smile returned a moment later. Of course her daughter would be at the Window, watching her beloved Keiichi wash his socks or something. She turned and led her guards down the hall toward the viewing room.

Opening the door, she stepped inside...

And found it empty.

She blinked, and her eyes narrowed. "Where are they?" she asked.

The question was not rhetorical. Her guard captain spoke into his comm bracelet and turned to her with a whispered answer a moment later.

Her Elite's answer was so off-the-wall that Hild had to turn to him and ask him to repeat it.

Hearing it a second time did nothing to make her feel better.

888

Ssselessmeshala watched as Belldandy knelt over the battered demon lying on the floor of his cell. It stirred quickly as she rested her hand on its arm, sensing a trap. He opened one of its swollen eyes and found her there.

"What did you do?" she asked him quietly, her voice was sympathetic, but offered no pity.

"Failure," he rasped in response. It was a simple answer, one she had heard from four others already. It required no further explanation.

She reached down and took his hand. "Failure is not a blameworthy thing," she said. "There is no shame in failure, only refusing to do your very best."

"I did my best," the demon whispered.

Belldandy smiled and squeezed his hand. "Then I am sure Mother will forgive you soon." She stood up and turned, walking out of the cell and turning to the next one.

Ssselessmeshala whispered a question to her even as the other three Elites hung back. They couldn't make sense of what their mistress was doing. Consoling prisoners? It seemed so... undemon-like.

Belldandy, however, answered patiently. "I felt sorry for myself," she told him. "And in doing so, I shrunk my world."

The Elite whispered, now even more confused than before.

The goddess stopped outside the next cell. "My world, my outlook, shrunk until all I could see was my own pain," she said. "Not the pain of others. I had forgotten my most basic duties as a goddess. To bring comfort, aid and forgiveness to others."

Something on the other side of the door slammed into it with enough force to shake the steel barrier on its hinges. The Elites drew their weapons and hissed. Belldandy stood there silently, looking at the door.

Ssselessmeshala whispered to her again.

"Because if I cannot offer forgiveness to others, I cannot expect any for myself," she said. "You do not have to come with me."

The Elite bristled and raised his weapon.

"Belldandy?"

The goddess turned and saw Hild descending the steps toward them. "What are you doing here?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Bringing comfort to those without," Belldandy told her.

Hild regarded her cautiously, unsure of what to make of this. There was something decidedly different about Belldandy today. She seemed less on edge, more... comfortable.

"Why?" she asked carefully.

"Because that is my role," Belldandy told her. Behind her, the steel door jumped again as whatever stood behind it threw its weight against it.

Hild smiled at her. "These demons do not require forgiveness, child," she explained. "They require correction. Forgiveness is pointless."

"It is not pointless," Belldandy told her. "It better serves you, Mother."

This explanation caught Hild off guard. "How so?" she asked. It wasn't that she seriously wanted an answer, just an idea of what was in her adopted daughter's head.

"Most of the demons here are here because of some failure," Belldandy explained. "They did not want to fail, and if given the opportunity, they will work twice as hard so that they might redeem themselves in your eyes." She smiled. "They love you, Mother."

Hild circled her as the monster railed at the door. "My Belldandy," she whispered. "You know failure cannot be tolerated. And neither can insubordination."

"I do not mean to be insubordinate, Mother," Belldandy told her truthfully. "But I am a goddess."

"You are a demon," Hild reminded her patiently.

"No," the Norn replied. "Only the Almighty can make that so. I am a goddess, and I must be true to that."

Hild smiled, switching to a different tactic. "You get to see Keiichi in a few more days," she said. "Shouldn't you be preparing for that? I can take you to see my personal tailor. I'm sure she can come up with a positively gorgeous dress for you..."

Belldandy smiled. "Thank you, Mother. That's a kind offer. But I have work that must be done here."

The archdemoness's face fell. She grimaced. "I'm not sure I like the idea of you being here," she bit out. "It's dangerous. For you... and the baby..."

This made Belldandy pause. Behind her, the monster slammed into the door again. She squared her shoulders and took a breath. "My Elites will protect me," she said confidently. "I trust in them completely."

The Elites looked to one another briefly, unused to such praise.

Hild considered her options and didn't find any real good ones. She had to keep Belldandy under her control, but at the same time she had to make sure the Norn continued to look up to her as a mother-figure. She smiled.

"Very well," she said with false approval. "Do as you must." She turned and walked out of the room, grinding her teeth at each step.

Belldandy turned to the steel door and nodded to an Elite. "Please open it."

888

"You wished to see me, Your Majesty?" Metheus asked with a bow as he came before Hild in the throne room.

Rather than sit on her onyx throne, Hild paced back and forth in front of it, biting her lip in thought.

"She's regressing," she bit out.

Metheus arched an eyebrow. "Is she?"

"She's downstairs," Hild told him. "'Forgiving' the prisoners I have in my dungeon." She turned a hateful glare on him. "You certified her for her hatred. Explain this, Metheus!"

The rampant was not moved by her wrath. "She is clinging to the trappings of her old self," he rasped. "It is... typical... among rampants." He turned his head a little and muttered. "More so than usual lately..."

"What was that?"

He shook his head. "An errant thought, Your Majesty. I assume she told you she was a goddess?"

Hild arched an eyebrow. Metheus nodded knowingly.

"She has done some terrible things in the past few days," he told her. "Right now she wants to believe that she can go back to what she was, that everything will be all right. In time, however, she will realize there is no going back."

The archdemoness grit her teeth and glared at him. "Remind her," she ordered.

He bowed. "It shall be done, Your Majesty."

888

Lying flat on her back, Urd's eyes moved left and right as she felt Eir place a warm crystal disc just below her belly button.

"Now, this will only take a few minutes," Eir told her in a soothing voice. "Just relax."

Urd took a breath. She still wasn't sure she wanted to know just yet, wasn't sure what answer she wanted to hear.

"I remember when I took this test," Eir said with a gentle smile. "It was actually during the war. Like you and Nyd, I was part of a Pairing, always too busy to go out and find a husband on my own. Your mother actually gave it to me."

"How did you feel?" Urd asked.

Eir looked away. "At the time, I was quite frightened. I wasn't sure I wanted to raise a child in a war, and at the time it seemed there was no end in sight." Her voice turned sad. "And like you... I had just lost my husband. He was a Helljumper..."

"I'm sorry," Urd said, again feeling a connection to Eir she couldn't feel with her stepmother. "I'm afraid," she admitted. "I'm afraid that if it's true, that whenever I look at him I'll be reminded of Nyd's death."

"You won't," Eir assured her. She smiled down at her daughter-in-law. "Rather, you will be reminded of Nyd's life."

Urd smiled at that. "Perhaps." She frowned again a moment later. "And I'm also afraid that if I'm not, that I've lost him forever."

"I admit," Eir began, "I want you to be pregnant for a very selfish reason." She closed her eyes. "I very much want to see Nyd again. And I know I will in your son's eyes."

"He'll be one-quarter demon, you know," Urd warned her quietly.

"No, he won't," Eir told her with a smile. "You are a goddess. You chose to be a goddess. Your son will be a god, I know that in my heart."

Eir's attention was pulled back to Urd's abdomen. She smiled. "Ding! Turkey's done!" At the look on Urd's face, she explained. "Sorry, your mother did the same at the end of my test. Let's see here..."

888

Peorth gently moved Tabitha's head from side to side, the love goddess checking the demonic marks on either cheek. Sitting on the bed in Tabitha's room, formerly Metheus's home office, Peorth scanned the girl's face for any hint that the marks were getting bigger or smaller. She bit her lip. Though the marks weren't getting bigger, they weren't receding either.

"Is everything okay?" Tabitha asked meekly.

The love goddess smiled. "Oui. I just wanted to make sure you... weren't breaking out... All that filthy water might have clogged your pores."

"Ewww," Tabitha replied, making a disgusted face.

Peorth's smile turned genuine. "Oui," she said.

"Are we going to stay here?" Tabitha asked.

"I think so, Petite," Peorth told her. She was starting to grow accustomed to the idea herself. It might take years, but she was confident she could turn Metheus back.

"I miss Mommy," the girl told her.

"I know," the goddess told her, offering her a hug. "I bet she misses you too."

They hugged for a moment before Tabitha spoke again. "Do you have kids? Back where you're from, I mean?"

Peorth paused. "Non," she said.

"Why not?" the girl pried.

The goddess looked Tabitha in the eye and tried to find a way to explain it. "Mr. Wynn and I just weren't in the same place at the same time for a very long time."

"Oh," Tabitha replied. "So... now that we're here, are you..." There was a trace of hesitancy in her voice.

Peorth smiled and tousled the girl's hair. "I think you're going to be more than enough for awhile," she said.

The girl blinked. "So... You're going to be my new mommy?"

The goddess felt her chest tighten at the sound of the question, so loaded with life-long implications. Tabitha looked up at her expectantly.

Finally, Peorth smiled and nodded. "Oui, Petite. I'll be your maman."

Tabitha leapt forward and hugged her tightly. "Yay!"

Peorth squeezed the girl in her arms, a tear coming to her eye. She knew she was effectively ensnaring herself further, but she didn't care. Tabitha needed her... and so did Wynn.

"Mommy," Tabitha whispered.

The sound filled Peorth with a mixture of joy and fear. There was a long road ahead for all of them.

888

Ssselessmeshala knelt next to Belldandy as she recovered her strength. She had insisted on going into the creature's cell alone, and had not Ssselessmeshala disobeyed and followed her inside, the minotaur creature inside might have seriously injured her. As it was, it had taken nearly all of her strength to hold it back long enough to speak to it.

"I am all right, Ssselessmeshala," she said with a smile. "Thank you... for not listening to me."

He bowed to her, and at her outstretched hand, helped her to her feet. He whispered a suggestion, and she nodded.

"Yes, we shall return later, I think," she agreed.

She started toward the stairway that would lead up to the palace proper, her Elites arrayed behind her, when five figures started down the steps toward them, a familiar figure in the lead.

Belldandy stopped where she was and grimaced. After all she had said, she still wasn't ready to offer forgiveness to Metheus, though she hoped that day was coming.

Metheus, followed by Carestia and three recovery agents stopped at the foot of the stairs. He bowed to Belldandy. "Princess," he greeted.

"Lord Metheus," she returned. She offered a short bow to Carestia. "Carestia san."

Carestia didn't reply.

"May I ask what the Princess is doing down here?" Metheus asked. "This is a place for traitors and failures." His tone betrayed a sense of arrogance. He knew Belldandy's distaste and hatred for him would bubble over with enough prodding.

"I am tending to them," she replied shortly.

"I see," he said, stepping forward. Her Elites tensed but did not react otherwise. She remained still as he circled her. "And exactly how do you... 'tend'... to them?"

"They are in a dark place," she told him. "Filled with shame and regret. They need to hear that they are still worthy of Mother's love."

"A waste of time," he said as he came into view again.

"Is it?" she asked. "They each desire only a chance to redeem themselves in Mother's eyes, to earn her forgiveness." At this word, Carestia tensed nearby. "It is from her that they desire this, no other. All I can do is bring them comfort and assure them that forgiveness will come."

"Indeed," Metheus said, stepping back toward his group. He smiled. "And you have always struck me as the type, Princess, who enjoys... _comforting_... young men..."

The recovery agents snickered at the implication... but only for a second.

A moment later, the Elites drew their weapons and pulled Belldandy behind them!

Metheus's demons, no slouches themselves, raised carbines a half second later.

"No!" Belldandy cried, fighting her way between them. "No!" she told the Elites, facing them and holding her hands out.

The shadowy creatures, honor-bound to obey her will, lowered their weapons reluctantly, still eager to avenge their mistress's honor. Belldandy turned back to Metheus and the recovery agents, her face a mask, neither forgiving nor hate-filled.

"Impugning my honor or my virtue will gain you nothing, Lord Metheus," she told him quietly. "As you know... I have neither anymore."

Without another word, she led her Elites through the group of agents, who parted as she passed.

Metheus turned and called out to her, a sudden impulse striking him.

"Princess," he called after her. As she stopped and turned, he asked her. "What am I?"

Last time, she had given him a flowery answer, unwilling to accuse him of being a rampant, but bound by her nature to speak only the truth. He was curious to hear what this Belldandy, a Belldandy ruled, at least in part, by her hatred, would tell him.

"What am I, truth-teller?" he asked.

She regarded him for a moment before turning away, answering him as she started up the stairs.

"A disappointment, Lord Metheus."

888

Urd stepped out of her bedroom and took a breath. Eir had left three hours before to give the Norn time to think and come to grips with the results of the scan, and Urd had used that time thinking, wondering what might have been, and considering what to do now that she knew for certain.

The rest of the hotel room's occupants hadn't noticed she was there. They were looking over Skuld's shoulder at her holotop.

"And take a look at what else I got while I was in the Battlenet!" she cried. "I found this program! It was just sitting there, like it was waiting for me to grab it!"

"What does it do?" Frigga asked, reading the file name. "CAS dot ee-ex-ee?"

"It's a close air support request program," Gaeriel told them. "Using that, you can call down a CAS mission on just about any position you want. Skuld, how did you find that?"

"Well, my skills as a hacker _are_ legendary, you know..." she remarked.

Frigga sensed her there and turned. "Urd... Honey... How are you feeling?"

Urd nodded. "Better," she said. "Much better. What's going on?"

"We're going over the plan one more time," Miranda told her.

"Good," Urd said. "When do we leave?"

Skuld brightened. "You mean... You're going too?"

The Norn nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I'm gonna go."

Keiichi regarded her with a sympathetic eye. "Does this mean you've forg..."

"No," Urd replied, interrupting him. She paused and started again. "But that doesn't mean I never will. When?"

Miranda nodded. "We step tomorrow at nine a.m." She turned to Keiichi. "On that note, you should probably return to your place, rest... speak to relatives."

The meaning in her words was clear. Keiichi nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll meet you here tomorrow at eight, all right?"

Miranda nodded. Keiichi grabbed his motorcycle helmet and left the room. There _were_ a few stops he wanted to make on the way home.

Gaeriel waited until he was out the door before turning back to Miranda. "When do we really leave?"

"Seven," the former valkyrie told her.

Skuld blinked. "But you just said..."

"Keiichi is a mortal," Miranda told her crisply. "The odds of a goddess surviving this are low enough."

"We might need him," Urd told her. "If Belldandy is as far gone as I think she is..."

"If she's as far gone as that, I'd rather be able to tell her that Keiichi is waiting for her on Earth than have to tell her he was killed by the first patrol we came across," the Helljumper said. "I know what I promised him. He stays here."

Skuld didn't look happy about it, but nodded.

Urd did as well. "Okay, he stays."

Frigga eyed her stepdaughter. "So," she said quietly. "What did Eir tell you?"

The Norn straightened. "Ask me again when this is over. Right now, we have to get Belldandy."

888

Megumi opened the door and blinked. "Kei chan? What's up?"

Keiichi stood on her front step. It was raining, but he made no effort to step inside.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "Do you... Do you need a place to hide?" she asked uncertainly.

He sighed at the question. Apparently, Megumi still suspected the worst. "No," he told her. "I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be away for awhile and not to worry, all right?"

"Are you on the run?!" she demanded.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going to get Belldandy back."

Megumi brightened. "Kei chan! That's... That's great! So you're going to Norway?"

"A bit south," he conceded.

"Oh. Okay. I'll let the Auto Club know."

"Megumi, before I go, there's something I need to know," he said, struggling to get the words out. Whatever it was, she could tell it was weighing heavily on his mind.

"Yeah, okay," she said, bidding him to continue.

He bit his lip and decided to go forward anyway. "Why did you pull me out of that lake and not Keiko?" he asked. "I mean... I just..."

She looked at him as if he had sprouted another head. "Kei chan? Why? After all this time..."

"I just have to know," Keiichi told her. "Why me and not her?"

"God, Kei chan, you really have to ask?" she whispered. "You're my brother. Even at six I knew that meant I loved you." She looked really uncomfortable talking about it. "I mean... you don't think I feel guilty too? I mean... Kei chan... she died because I _chose_ to save you first."

He looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just... I needed to know..."

"Why now of all times?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

"Someday," he said, "I mean a long time from now... I'll tell you. Right now, I gotta go." He stepped forward and hugged his sister. "I'll see you in a few days, okay? I love you."

"I love you too, Kei chan."

888

Peorth looked up as the door opened and Metheus entered. She stood up and smiled, though not as brightly as she used to. Taking a breath she stepped forward and leaned up, giving a welcome home kiss.

"How was your day, Cheri?" she asked.

"Just the usual," he told her. He gave her a once over. "You look lovely."

Peorth smiled and did a quick turn, showing off the dark green dress she had bought during her shopping trip with Tabitha. "Do you like it?" she asked.

"I do," he said, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

Peorth fought down her anger and disgust. If this was going to work, she had to start by forgiving him and loving him like she had before.

She leaned up and kissed him, wondering who she was kissing; Wynn or Metheus.

"I brought something for Tabitha," Metheus told her, holding up a small teddy bear. "Is she asleep already?"

Peorth gave him a genuine smile. "Oui, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you said good night to her." Perhaps this was a sign, she thought.

He grinned and walked to the door of his old office. Knocking twice, he waited until Tabitha said, "Come in!"

Stepping through the door, he found the demoness sitting up in bed. She smiled as he closed the door.

"I brought you something," he said, tossing her bear to her.

"Mr. Fluff-'n-Stuff!" she cried, hugging the bear to her chest.

"I thought you'd like that," he said. "I've never seen you without it."

"I used to have two," she told him. "Mr. Fluff-'n-Stuff and Mr. Stuff-'n-Fluff. I brought Mr. Stuff-'n-Fluff to life once, just to see if I could." Her face turned angry. "But he was a bad, naughty bear..."

"So what happened?" he asked her.

She smiled. "He thought that just because he was alive, that he wasn't my bear anymore. That he could do whatever he felt like. He was a very naughty bear..." She looked up at him. "So I decided to find out if he was really filled with stuff and fluff." The child-like demoness smiled evilly. "I had him vivisected..."

"I see," he said. He turned to business. "Report."

She smiled. "She belongs to you now, My Lord. As do I."

He stood up. "Keep up the good work." Stepping toward the door, his hand paused at the light switch. "Good night."

"Good night... Papa," she quipped.

Smiling, he turned the light out.

888

Gaeriel was only half listening as Miranda went through the list of things Skuld had to do while they were gone. As much as Skuld had complained about not getting to come along, she certainly wasn't going to be sitting on the sidelines. She kept an ear open as she checked the energy load on her Mjolnir carbine.

"Monitor us from the holotop," she told the Norn. "With your patch into aerial, you should be able to warn us if any large troop movements head in our direction. We'll keep you apprised through the uplink of what we're doing. Understand?"

Skuld nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

"We left money for pizza," Frigga told her, looking distinctly uncomfortable in the valkyrie combat armor she wore.

"What's wrong?" Urd asked her, noticing her discomfiture.

The elder goddess squirmed. "Urd," she whispered, "I haven't worn a pair of trousers in more than ten centuries." She squirmed again. "It's... unnatural."

Urd gave her a look. "If it helps, you have the ass for it."

"You really think so?!" Frigga asked.

"I'm not having this conversation with my stepmother," Urd said, walking off. She checked the clock. It was coming up on six-thirty. She picked up a pen and piece of paper, intent on writing a note to Keiichi, explaining why he had to stay, when she heard a knock at the door.

Everyone looked up.

"It must be room service," Skuld said. "I ordered breakfast."

Urd stepped over and opened the door, blinking in shock.

Keiichi smiled. "Come on," he said. "How stupid do you think I am?"


	25. No Regrets

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 25**_

_**No Regrets**_

_**

* * *

**_**"Everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had. I'm fighting because I don't know how to do anything else..."**

_Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace_

_Battlestar Galactica: Valley of Darkness_

Three blue-tinted, holographic representations of Great Ships appeared over the briefing table as Lind continued to narrate, fully aware that the audience she spoke to was fifteen of the most powerful and respected gods and goddesses in Heaven, and that the overwhelming majority of them had already dismissed this meeting before it had ever begun.

She continued on anyway. That was her job.

"At this point, three of our Great Ships, the _Meriadoc_, the _Strength And Purity_, and the _Augustine_ will transapparate over the Hellrider base in Realm One-Sixteen and begin a raid targeting their long-range forces. The attack will be seen as a retaliatory measure for the..." She paused. Even from what she had heard from confidential sources, it hadn't really been a murder. "... death... of the Deputy Surgeon General," she finished. "Hild will have no choice but to respond by sending the only forces available to respond quickly enough to repel the attack, the Demon Realm's Home Garrison Forces."

She tapped her pen against the holograms, and an image of Hild's palace appeared. "Once she does," Lind continued, "Our Valkyrie units will enter Hell through an experimental form of portable hardline capable of moving through Hild's defenses." She paused as an aerial view of the palace appeared, marking four corners around the structure. "Security will be set up at the four corners of the palace while infiltration teams will storm the castle, find Belldandy and bring her out. At that point, our forces will exfiltrate out the same temporary hardlines."

At the opposite side of the table, Michael raised a finger. "Commander," he began, "You said our Valkyrie units will infiltrate Hell... exactly how many Valkyries are we talking about here?"

Lind took a breath, but covered her apprehension well. She had been expecting this question and dreading it. It was the question that was going to end the meeting, and she knew it.

She tapped her pen again, and blue dots, each representing a member of the 1st Combat Division, began pepper the hologram of the palace. The commander faced Michael with an air of what she hoped was confidence.

Lind took a breath.

"All of them," she said.

There were gasps and grunts of shock around the table. She quickly tried to regain hold of the floor. "Any less," she warned loudly, "And we risk failure of the mission!"

"You want to send our entire force of valuable winged infantry into Hell!?" one of the gods asked.

Lind gave him a look of venom, thoroughly upset by who was asking that question. "As I recall," she growled. "You didn't consider them so valuable when you advocated cutting our numbers after the end of the war."

"Enough!" Michael called out with more resignation than heat. He looked up at Lind. "Commander, thank you. We will take this plan... under advisement."

Lind left the assembly room as soon as she possibly could, Gwydion falling into step beside her.

"That could have gone better," her former teacher told her.

"It was an impossible tasking," she told him. "To come up with a plan with a one-hundred percent chance of success while at the same time keeping casualties at zero. They expected me to fail, and I did not disappoint them."

Gwydion grunted as they took the stairs that led to Central Dogma's lobby. "As you noted in your arguments, they do bear some of the responsibility for this situation. Had they not been disbanded, two teams of Helljumpers with proper support could complete this mission. It's what they excelled at."

"There is no use in dwelling on what should be," she said.

"What will you do?" he asked her.

She stopped midstep and turned to him. "We will wait for an opportunity... and then embrace it."

"Is she worth it?" Gwydion asked her, stopping Lind before she could turn and step out the door. "How many have we lost already?" he asked. "How many more are even we, who accept death as part of our role, willing to sacrifice?"

She caught his eyes with sad determination. "She is the best of us," she whispered. "Everything every goddess aspires to be. If we turn our backs on her, we turn our backs on everything we claim to represent." Lind turned and started out the door. "And I will not turn my back on her."

888

Keiichi watched as Miranda set a blue stone about the size of a softball on the floor in the center of her living room. Kneeling next to it, she caressed the orb with her hands and chanted, prompting it to glow softly. She stepped back just as a small dart of blue light shot into the ceiling.

"Hardline established," she noted, turning to the others. She adjusted her armor and worked the action on her carbine. "Gaeriel and I will go first. Give us two minutes, then come through. Frigga first, then Keiichi, then Urd. Understood?"

They nodded. Weapons raised, Miranda and Gaeriel disappeared through the invisible portal created by the orb.

At exactly two minutes, Frigga hopped through.

Keiichi paused for a moment. "Um... I know this is kind of a girly question to ask," he said. "But I was unconscious the last couple of times, and I'm wondering... well... does it hurt?" he asked.

Urd smiled. "Keiichi, gods and goddesses use this as a mode of transportation all the time!"

"Yeah, but you're goddesses," he pointed out, hoisting his backpack higher onto his shoulders.

"It's no different," she assured him. "You won't feel a thing."

He nodded. "Okay, thanks." With that, he leapt through.

Skuld looked at her quizzically. "Does it hurt mortals for real?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Urd replied with an expression that screamed, 'glad I'm not him.'

She hugged her younger sister. "Mind the store, Skuld. We'll back in a few days."

"I'm on it," Skuld assured her. "Go get Oneesama."

Urd grinned. "Easy as pie!" With that, she leapt through the portal and disappeared.

Skuld sighed. "Yeah... easy as pie," she muttered.

888

Krieg looked up as the knock on his door rang through his apartment. Not expecting visitors at this time of day, he growled and drew a soulblade before stalking to his door and taking the doorknob in his hand.

With one quick movement, he pulled the door open and stopped short.

"Carestia," he rumbled. "This is a surprise."

The rampant goddess didn't smile. "I want to talk to you," she told him. "Alone."

"Come in," he invited, stepping aside so she could enter.

The pilot entered the apartment and caught sight of the three comatose goddesses still lying on beds nearby. Krieg was apparently still intent on caring for them She noticed the daisies surrounding the women were fresh.

She heard the door close behind her and turned.

"Well?" Krieg growled expectantly.

Carestia folded her arms over her chest. "I changed my mind," she said. "I want to hear Miranda's offer."

The behemoth was thrown for a loop. His eyes narrowed. "You do?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yes, I do," she told him firmly. She noticed the uncertain look in his eyes and rolled hers. "The Inquisition didn't send me, Krieg," she told him.

"Why?" he asked simply.

She turned away and stepped toward the goddesses, looking down at them, but unlike before, when there was only amused contempt in her eyes, this time it was regret. It had been a thousand years since she had looked like one of them, _been_ one of them.

"I thought I could make this my life," she told him honestly. "But it's not. It can't, and it never will be. I left my life behind... in Heaven... and told myself I had no choice but to embrace this one." She turned back to him. "I don't want to die here," she said. "Not as a demon."

He considered her words carefully, wondering if he should step over the red line. "We cannot just leave," he told her. "Even if Hell didn't chase us, Heaven would."

"True," Carestia told him. "We cannot simply beg for..." she smiled tightly as she finished. "... forgiveness." She turned back to the goddesses. "We must buy it."

"Buy it?" Krieg asked.

"Yes," she said. "And I know exactly what to trade."

888

Urd had to hold back a laugh when she reappeared and found Keiichi glaring at her, covered in soot.

"It was hot," he muttered bitterly.

She held back for a moment longer...

"And I'm covered in black stuff..."

She burst out laughing, the first true laugh she'd had in days. Standing nearby, Frigga smiled at the sound.

"Come, son," she said. "Let's get that cleaned off you."

Recovering from her laughing fit, Urd looked around. They had reappeared in a thick pine forest, but there was little underbrush to get underfoot. The ground was covered in brown pine needles, and the sound of birds echoed through the trees.

"So I thought we were going to the Styx," Keiichi said as Frigga wiped the waxy black grime off his face.

"The Styx isn't just a river," Urd told him. "It's a realm. Realm 94, The Styx. There's a river _in_ it. On this side there are hardlines that lead to various realms controlled by Heaven. On the other side the hardlines are controlled by the Demon Realm. Valkyries and Hellriders both patrol it, it's like a demilitarized zone..."

"A Berlin Wall," Keiichi concluded.

"Of a sort," Frigga told him. "The trick will be getting past both the Valkyries and the Hellriders."

"The Hellriders won't be a problem," Miranda told them as she walked up. "We're about two clicks south of the best crossing. No flying, we'll show up on their scans. Gaeriel, you're on point. Let's go."

Gaeriel led the way north through the forest, walking at a clip just fast enough to not be unbearable. Keiichi made an effort to keep up. He knew if anyone was a liability here, it was him.

The Valkyrie at the front of their line stopped and gave the signal to freeze. Miranda marched up to the front and put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "It's okay, they've got us," she said. She held her carbine out with one hand and raised the other.

To Keiichi's complete surprise, six Valkyries suddenly appeared around them, carbines, bows and spears raised.

"Well, this is a great way to start," Urd muttered.

One of the Valkyries stepped up toward Gaeriel, recognizing her.

"Lieutenant," he began sternly. "You're in a restricted area."

Gaeriel cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. "I'm well aware of where I am, Master Guns," she bit out, thinking quickly. "My question for you is why you're here interfering with our mission after you were specifically ordered to leave this sector open."

The sergeant arched an eyebrow. "We received no such orders," her replied curtly.

Gaeriel sighed in exasperation. "Of all the times for Division HQ to screw up..."

"I'm going to have to see a copy of this order," he told her.

The Valkyrie officer paused, but Miranda responded, stepping toward the man. "I have it here," she said with a smile.

Standing to the side, Frigga watched the former colonel reach behind her waist and begin to draw a slim soul blade from a sheathe hidden beneath her armor. The queen watched horrified as she moved closer to the sergeant.

"Hold!" she cried suddenly. Stepping forward, the eyes of the rest of Valkyries fell on her suspiciously, but with awe. Miranda froze like a statue and blinked.

Frigga stepped forward and stood toe-to-toe with the sergeant. "My boy," she began quietly. "You know who I am, yes?"

"Yes, Milady," he told her. "But..."

"Then you must know that only the most important of matters would bring me here," she went on. "Ours is a mission of the utmost sensitivity. I beg of you... let us pass... pretend we were not here."

"Milady, I could not," he told her. "I..."

"You know of what is happening in Creation, do you not?" she asked, pressing him.

"Yes, of course..."

"And you know that my daughter, our Belldandy, is trapped in that place?"

"Yes..."

"And you know that we have done nothing to get her back," Frigga went on. "You are Valkyrie, a guardian of the innocent gods and goddesses who inhabit Creation. I do not ask you to come with us, just to allow us to finish what we've begun, to find my daughter, our wayward goddess, and bring her home."

The sergeant looked away for a moment, deep in thought. He raised his head a moment later and found the eyes of his teammates, each of them giving him a silent nod in turn. Clearing his throat, he turned back to Frigga and raised his voice so his entire team could hear.

"A good drill, Valks," he announced. "Still sharp as ever. Make way for the OpFor team, I'm sure they have plenty of other patrols they need to test before the day is out."

Frigga smiled. "Thank you."

He gave her a bow. "Milady."

The Valkyries parted and let them go by, disappearing back into the brush. Once they were out of earshot, Frigga fell into step beside Miranda.

"You were going to kill that young man," she hissed accusingly.

"I was," Miranda told her casually. "And at least half of his companions if luck stayed with me. Hopefully, Gaeriel and Urd could have gotten the others. If not, it would have been an inauspicious end to this mission."

"They're _Valkyries!_" Frigga hissed angrily.

"Yes," Miranda said quietly. "Choose."

"What?"

The former officer stopped and turned to her. "I said 'choose,' Milady," she bit out. "Your daughter or the people we _might_ have to kill before this is said and done. If you think for a moment that we're going to get through this without blood on our hands, you had better rethink things."

The others watched the confrontation warily.

Miranda turned to them. "All of you choose!" she demanded. "Because I need to know, when things go to shit, that I can trust you all! Because if you can't do what has to be done, I'm better off moving on alone."

None of them said a word for a moment. Then, without preamble, Keiichi stepped forward. "I choose Belldandy," he said. "But," he added. "I'm not going to violate her wishes by hurting innocent people. I couldn't face her again after that."

Urd bit her lip and nodded. "I agree. We're not demons. We don't eat our own."

Gaeriel smiled. "I didn't sign on to kill Valks."

Frigga looked Miranda in the eye. "This isn't just your mission anymore," she said quietly. "You're part of a team, and we expect you to play by the team's rules." At Miranda's irritated look, Frigga continued. "We need you, Colonel," she said quietly. "We need your expertise."

Miranda searched their eyes for support, but finding none, took a breath and nodded. "Very well, have it your way." Shouldering her weapon, she moved on ahead.

"Think she'll be okay?" Urd asked.

Keiichi watched the Valkyrie move on. "She has a lot riding on this," he told her. "The last two hundred years of her life have been spent working toward this."

Urd watched her march away and took a breath. "Something tells me she's staked a lot more than that..."

888

She clutched at him and gasped, her eyes closed in the ecstasy of their lovemaking. The goddess tried her best, wanted it to be how she remembered it from their times before, but couldn't find it, that place in her heart and body where it ceased to be sex and became instead a physical representation of love.

Peorth let her mind drift back to those times as he moved above her, grasping onto the memories of that place and found enough of that feeling to suffice.

"Wynn!" she cried. "Ma cheri!"

As their lovemaking ended and their blood began to cool again, Peorth breathed deeply and thought about how it felt, even as Metheus curled up next to her in bed and held her. She had called him Wynn but even now had to admit how wrong it was. It was different because he was different.

_I can change him,_ she thought. _I can still fix all of this! I know it! I just need time!_

_He was right,_ a doubting voice in her head told her. _Wynn is dead. This demon is all that's left._

_Not true!_

"Fleur?" she heard him whisper in her ear. "What is it?"

She didn't look over her shoulder at him, didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. "It's nothing," she said.

Metheus looked at the back of her head and knew it was a lie. He might not be able to see her face, but her body language, the tenseness of her muscles told him she was very troubled. His mind went once again to their current situation. He hoped that things would settle between them, that even if things couldn't be exactly as before, that the feelings would still be there.

Of course, somewhere down the line, he would have to come clean about his methods. In the beginning, filled with the rage and bitterness of her betrayal of him, he had felt his using Tabitha against Peorth was justified. But after his conversation with Carestia...

He had to face facts. When _Carestia_ of all people said you had gone too far... then you were well and truly fucked up.

The Inquisitor rose from their bed and threw a robe on.

"Where are you going?" she asked him, not turning to face him.

"The office," he told her quietly. "I have to work..."

_Think_, was what he wanted to say, but now he was entrenched so deep into this, he couldn't speak plainly to her without the risk of tipping his hand.

888

Keiichi wasn't sure what the mythological Styx River would look like, and even after cresting the final hill and looking down at it, he still wasn't sure. The legendary body of water was immersed in a thick, grey fog that obscured even the most subtle hint of water. Only the sound of water gently lapping against the bank hinted that there was a river there at all.

"So is this it?" he asked, trying to peer through the fog.

"This is it," Urd confirmed.

"The question is, are we in the right place?" Gaeriel inquired.

"We're in the right place," Miranda told her, pushing her way to the front. She stared out at the bank and waited patiently, like a businessman waiting on the platform for the next train, thoroughly confident in its imminent arrival.

She didn't have to wait long. Searching the fog, Keiichi saw a dim red light appear and start to come closer. As it approached the bank, he found that the light was a lantern fixed to the bow of what appeared to be a Viking long boat. Something dark stood on the bow. At first, Keiichi thought it might be Charon, the mythical creature that ferried souls across the river, but it appeared to be like a shadow. Glowing red eyes studied them as the boat rasped across the sandy river bottom and beached itself.

The former commando stepped forward and nodded to the creature. It spoke to her in a harsh, guttural language, and Miranda replied in kind.

Keiichi thought it sounded a little like German with a bit of Klingon thrown in. He wondered if he was the only one who didn't understand, but he saw Frigga lean over to Urd and ask her a question.

"My Demonic is a bit rusty, Dear, do you know what they're saying?"

Urd, who likewise hadn't spoken her mother's language in centuries, listened carefully, but had a hard time making it out. "The demon is telling her there are too few of us," she explained. "Miranda is saying..." She paused and tried to determined the correct translation. "A contract is a contract," she finished.

Finally, the demon nodded. Miranda turned to them. "Get on. We only have a short window to get across the river before the Hellrider patrols enter the area."

Urd eyed the former Valkyrie officer as she stepped into the boat. Miranda met her gaze, but the Norn could glean nothing from it.

888

Skuld looked down at the holotop and saw the tiny blue dots that represented her sister and friends begin to move across the portion of the map representing the Styx. They were either in a boat or floating over the river, and she didn't want to call them to ask. No point in letting Nidhogg know they were there quite yet.

She tapped her fingers together and watched, almost wanting something to happen so she could do something, anything, to help, but so far the only thing she could do was watch five blue blips traverse a map like some kind of low-tech MMORPG.

At first, she thought the knock on the door was a warning signal from the holotop, but after a quick check and a repeat of the knock, she knew it wasn't. She pulled her headset off and started for the door.

"Just a sec!" she called. She opened the door and took a quick breath in shock, feeling her chest constrict in sudden uncertainty.

"Um... Hey," Sentaro said nervously.

She swallowed back butterflies. "Um... Hi," she replied. "What... What are you doing here?"

The boy scratched the back of his head, something she had seen Keiichi do a hundred times when talking to Belldandy. "Well... You know... I was in the area and I... Well... Okay, I wasn't just in the area. I wanted to see how you were doing..."

Her cheeks warmed at the sentiment. "You... um... wanna come in?" she asked demurely as she played absently with her hair, Peorth's lessons coming back to her.

"Um... Sure," he said.

Skuld stepped aside and let him into the hotel room. A quick look around brought a new question to his mind. "Are you alone here?" he asked.

The goddess came up short. "Yeah," she said. "My mom and the others are... out... right now," she said. "I'm just holding down the fort... ya know?"

"That's cool," he said. "Any word about your sister?" he asked sympathetically.

She bit her lip, unsure of what to say. "They're working on it," she finally said.

"Well... That's good," he allowed, nervous and lost as to what the "right" thing to say would be. He finally decided to change the subject and saw the holotop on the kitchen table. "Whatcha do'in?"

Before she could stop him, he was looking down at the map on her screen. "Hey, is this one of those MMORPGs?!" he asked. "Cool!"

"Uh... Yeah!" she replied, taking the story for her own and running with it. "It's call... um... 'Rescue from Hell.'"

"Sweet! I haven't heard of that one!"

"Yeah... I'm kinda beta testing it," she said lamely.

"Oh," he said. "Well... Hey, I'll let you get back to it then," he said, turning reluctantly for the door.

"Hey!" she called out. "You... um... want some lemonade or something?"

He paused and smiled. "Yeah... Yeah, that would be great."

888

Benches lined the bulkhead of the long boat, and they each found a seat under the wooden overhang, seeking shelter from the chilled fog outside. The sole exception was Miranda, who was speaking to the demon guiding the boat on the bow.

Keiichi, finding a spot nearest to the edge of the overhang, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put one between his lips. As he raised his lighter, the hand of the goddess sitting next to him covered it. He looked up and found Urd sitting there, staring down at the floor with a preoccupied look on her face.

"Please don't smoke around me," she said simply.

The mortal boy paused for a moment and lowered the lighter. "Sure," he mumbled. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "It's just a filthy habit, and you should quit before Belldandy finds out."

He smiled and decided to try to draw her out a little. "You're going to talk to _me_ about filthy habits?" he asked. "I've never seen anyone knock down sake like you..."

"Yeah," she admitted. "I'm thinking about taking it easy from now on," she whispered.

_It dulls your eyes..._

Her throat constricted as she heard the voice in her head, the specter of memory, admonish her.

_Your eyes shine, _the voice continued. _When you drink... the shine dulls..._

She let out a weak cough and bit hard on her lip.

_Don't, _she begged. _Don't do this now. Please? Please, don't do this... I can't do this now! Please! Not in front of all of them! I can't! Please don't do this! I don't want to do this in front of them! Please! Not now! Not now! I can't... Please!_

The Norn swallowed as tears formed in her eyes. She tried to look away, to conceal what was happening to her, but Keiichi heard the choked sob that managed a heroic escape from her throat. She took a deep breath and tried to rein it back, but was failing miserably.

She felt Keiichi take her hand and turned toward him.

"Hey," he whispered to her. "It's okay. You can let it out."

"No, I can't," she whispered, tears running down her face. "If I let it out now, it won't stop, do you understand? I can't do that yet."

The mortal boy squeezed her hand. "I know," he said. "I do... but you don't have to hide it either."

She swallowed again. "She doesn't deserve you," she said bluntly.

"Huh?" he asked, blinking.

"Remember what you said right after you got back from the hospital?" she asked. "You were right. She should have fought harder or let _you_ fight or..." She turned away as Keiichi looked at her, perplexed by the Norn's sudden attack on her sister. "People say," she went on, "... that you were lucky. That you lucked into finding the perfect girlfriend. Well, the truth is that _she_ lucked out. Because she found you."

He looked down at the floor, uncomfortable with the attack on his girlfriend guised as praise for him. "I guess... you're still mad at her..."

The Norn's face suddenly turned vicious as that tendril of hate nurtured by her demon blood made its presence known. "Of _course I'm still angry!_" she hissed. "After what she did!? Am I supposed to just shrug it off, say 'shit happens,' and move on!?"

"No, it's just that..."

Her eyes were alight in green fire. "Keiichi, I _hate_ her right now," she growled. "I hate her and I love her at the same time! Do you have any idea what that's like?! I hate her for what she did, whether she was herself or not! I love her as my good and kind sister! And I resent the HELL out of her right now!"

Keiichi stopped trying to speak. He was the one to tell her to let it out, after all. He sat there and listened as Urd got things off her chest, hoping it would help.

"I resent the fact that _her_ child will get to know her father, and mine won't!" she hissed. Keiichi started visibly at the news contained in that statement. "I resent it, and I hate her because of it! While the three of you are going to get to spend Christmases at the temple, opening presents and singing carols, my son is going to be asking me why there are no pictures of me and his father together! You and she are going to get to do things like that, and I'm not, _because she took that from me and I hate her for it!_"

They were silent for several moments. Keiichi, shocked and almost saddened by the revelation, lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Urd," he said quietly. "You shouldn't be here. If you are... pregnant... then you shouldn't have come along..."

She snorted a short laugh and shook her head. "You're wrong Keiichi," she said. "Frigga had a vision about me where she saw my child." She looked square into his eyes. "I'm the only one here _guaranteed_ to survive."

888

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Carestia screamed, upending the table upon which their maps and schematics had sat, thwarting them for the last hour. She stared down at them, breathing heavily as Krieg watched her from where he sat, between two of the three comatose goddesses.

"An impasse?" he rumbled to her.

The demoness took a deep breath to keep from launching herself at her compatriot. "There is no way we can break into that wing of the palace, get through her Elites and break out again," she hissed. "Not the two of us."

Krieg rumbled in thought as he wiped a moist cloth against one of the goddess' foreheads. "Carestia is too aggressive to succeed," he noted.

"Hey!" she snapped at him. "You want to help or make snide remarks with your little girlfriend there?!"

"I was helping," he replied, looking up at her. "You're planning this like a demon, like Carestia. Brute force and nothing but."

"Brute force is what I'm good at," she hissed.

"No doubt," he said, continuing to bathe the goddess next to him. "But the Colonel taught us to be subtle as well."

The demoness regarded him carefully. She was never sure where things stood with him. On the outside, he appeared to be nothing more than a hulking mass of muscle and rage, but on the inside she swore he would have made a better poet or philosopher than a soldier.

"What are you saying, Basken?" she asked. "That we should just walk up and knock?"

He closed his eyes and smiled. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you for calling me 'Basken.'"

She took a step toward him, her face taking on an angrier hue. "You're not Basken yet," she said. He looked up at her. "Remember, we haven't escaped yet. Now start making sense."

Krieg stood up and looked her in the eye. "We have an ally on the inside," he said. "She just doesn't know it yet. And she has proven quite susceptible to manipulation."

Carestia smiled. "The Principessa herself."

"If we can convince her that she needs to be at a certain place at a certain time," he said, letting her figure out the rest for herself.

She grinned. "I have the perfect idea how," she told him, turning away and kneeling down to pick up the maps she had thrown about in her rage, her tantrum seemingly forgotten.

"What about Wynn?" Krieg asked her.

"He's too far gone," she said, not facing him.

"A day or so ago, I thought the same of you," he noted.

She paused. "You haven't seen the kind of things he's been doing," the former Valkyrie told him. "Truly evil things."

Krieg seemed to digest this. Carestia continued to defend herself.

"If we approach him, he'll roll on us," she said. "He's that far gone." The Seraphim pilot turned to him. "And I will not risk it."

"He would risk for us," he noted.

"He would have... once," she conceded. "Kr... Basken," she amended quietly. "If he can do those kind of things to his Peorth... someone he loved deeply... do you really think he'll sacrifice for us?"

Krieg growled.

"Come on," she said, inviting him to the table. "There's still a lot to do."

888

Miranda hadn't said a word since they left the boat at the demonic-held side of the Styx. She led the way over a rocky, craggy, desolate landscape of grey and purple rocks. It was the most depressing place Keiichi had ever seen. It looked like images he had seen from the Mars Lander, except there was a palpable feeling of futility and hopelessness in this place.

"Is it all like this?" he asked aloud.

"A lot of it," Urd replied quietly. "When they divvied up realms, Hild got the shit end of the stick a lot of the time. There are a few realms she controls that are breathtakingly beautiful, but most are... well... like this."

"I don't get it," he said as they continued to walk. "I mean, on the other side of the river it was nice and green, but here..."

"Demons tend to destroy the things they touch," Gaeriel noted condescendingly, stepping up alongside him.

"Demons didn't destroy this place," Frigga corrected her. "We did."

"Huh?"

The elder goddess smiled regretfully. "This side of the Styx was every bit as beautiful as the other," she said. "But it was also a good place for troops to hide. The Valkyries leveled it over the course of weeks, blasting it apart."

"I never knew that," Gaeriel said quietly.

Frigga shrugged. "It's regrettable, but that's the way things are."

The conversation ended on that uncomfortable note. Keiichi continued walking, but suddenly winced and slapped his arm. "Ow!" he hissed.

Frigga looked back at him. "What is it, son?" she asked.

He looked down at his arm and winced in chagrin. "Just an ant," he said.

Miranda froze and whirled on him. "What color?!" she demanded.

"Huh?"

"What color!?" she asked again.

He looked down at the smushed bug on his forearm. "Um... Red, I guess."

The former valkyrie searched the horizon with her eyes. "We need cover!" she said. "Now!"

"From what?" Gaeriel asked.

Keiichi blinked as a new sound floated into his ears, a kind of hissing, scraping sound that became more of a rumble every second.

Miranda heard it too and looked back over Keiichi's shoulder. "Take off!" she yelled. "Run!"

"What is it?!" Keiichi asked stupidly.

The warrior grabbed him by the back of his shirt and started dragging him over the next hill.

"Ants!" she cried. "Those goddamn ants!"

"Ants?!" Urd huffed next to her. "We're running from ants!?"

"About a million of them!" Miranda told her. "And they're about the size of cats! The one Keiichi killed was a scout! They can smell its blood!"

Being dragged the way he was, Keiichi was facing behind them and could see a cloud of dust beginning to catch up to them. Suddenly, like a wave, a red mass crested the hill behind them as millions of chittering creatures skittered toward them.

"Over there!" Gaeriel cried, leading the group to a formation of rocks.

"Running would be good!" Keiichi called out as he watched the insects getting closer. "Running! Running! Running!"

Miranda entered the rock formation and tossed Keiichi aside as she turned. "Shields! Quickly!"

Urd and Frigga shut their eyes and raised their hands, using their powers to erect a force shield around their shelter. It reminded Keiichi of a soap bubble in a kid's bathtub encircling the entire group.

Rather than shy away from the magical construct, the ants enveloped it, their glowing red pinchers biting into it. Keiichi watched Frigga and Urd wince.

"What is it?" he asked.

"They're... They're draining it," Frigga gasped out in disbelief.

"It's not going to hold long," Miranda confirmed. She tapped her bone mic. "Home One, Rescue One! We need your assistance!" She waited a moment before tapping the mic again. "Home One, Rescue One! Skuld! Do you read?!"

Nothing.

Miranda bit her lip and decided for the direct approach. "SKULD, DID YOU FORGET YOUR FUCKING NAME?! COME IN!"

888

"Thanks," Sentaro said as Skuld handed him his third refill of lemonade before sitting on the couch next to him. She smiled, unaware that ten feet away, the light on her headset was blinking, informing her that she was receiving a transmission.

The boy eyed her warily. "Are you sure it's okay?" he asked hesitantly. "I mean... me being here while your mom and sister are out?"

"Don't worry," Skuld said, unaware of why it would be such a big deal. "I'm not expecting them back for a few d... er... for awhile."

"Oh, okay," he replied nervously.

"It means a lot to me," she said quietly, her turn to be nervous. "That you came over, I mean," she finished.

He blinked at the statement, and she blushed a deep crimson.

"I mean... Don't be weird!" she cried defensively a moment later.

"Sorry," he said, bewildered.

She sighed. "No, I'm sorry," she said. "It really does mean a lot. It's kind of like when Oneesama talks about K..." She broke off and cleared her throat. "You know..."

"I guess," he said stupidly. He seemed to muster up some courage and held his head high. "Skuld, look, I want you to know something, okay?" He didn't wait for her to reply and continued to speak. "I really like you!" he blurted. "I mean... like like you... But I know you've got a lot on your mind now with your sister and everything, but I just wanted you to know that and I was thinking maybe when this was over and you had some time maybe we could go out or just... I don't know... hang out more as a boyfriend-girlfriend thing or... or... or..."

Skuld didn't say anything, she just let the awkward silence hang over them like a cloud of adolescent weirdness.

"You wanna go steady?" Sentaro finally said, summing up his argument.

The goddess blinked. "Does that mean we have to live in a temple and I have to cook? Because if so, I think this conversation is over..."

"No!" he said, waving his hands. "I just mean... that... maybe we could date each other... you know... exclusively?"

A smile began to spread over her face as her blush reached a new never-before-discovered shade of red. "I..." Before she could finish, her eyes fell on the headset. "OH, CRAP!" she cried, running to the computer and leaving a stunned Sentaro there, blinking in shock.

Bracing herself for a lecture, Skuld threw the headset on and moved the mouse on the holotop, bringing the computer to life. What she saw made her blood run cold.

"SKULD! WE ARE GOING TO DIE HERE!" Miranda was shouting.

"I'm here! I'm here!" she cried back. "Oh, jinkies!" she muttered. "Um... Let' see.... What can I do?!"

Thoroughly discouraged, Sentaro stood up and sidled toward the door. "I'll... just let you get back to your game..." he said.

She covered the mic with her hand and turned to him. "No! This will just take a second to... GIANT ANTS?! COME ON!"

"I'll just come back later...."

"Seriously, this won't take long to..." Her eyes went wide at the screen. "They can chew through force fields?! What kind of crap is THAT?!"

"Seriously, I can..."

"SENTARO! SIT DOWN!" Skuld ordered.

The boy sat.

Skuld turned back to the computer. "Okay, what do I do?"

888

The strain of keeping the shield up was evident on Frigga and Urd's faces as they struggled to pour more energy into it to make up for what the ants were consuming. Their bodies teemed over the dome of energy, completely blotting out the sun.

"We can toss a couple of glassers out there, maybe carve a path out of them!" Gaeriel suggested.

"I don't think you have enough bombs for all of them," Keiichi muttered. He looked at his arm and turned to them. "They're following me, right?" he asked. "I could lead them away!"

"Absolutely not!" Frigga cried through clenched teeth.

"Does anyone have a better idea?" he challenged.

"Air support!" Miranda said.

Gaeriel and Keiichi turned to her, but she wasn't speaking to them. She was holding her bone mic against her throat. "Use the CAS program you found and send a couple of valkyries over the Styx. Do you have a pen? Write this down!" She paused for a moment. "Okay, request fire mission, Realm Nine-Four. One-six-two, break... Remember to say 'break.' Two-five-seven, break. Three-three-six, break. Targets are non-sentient arthropedics. Friendlies on their lingo, danger close. Unable to mark targets. Do you got that?"

888

Skuld wrote furiously on a napkin, nodding even though Miranda couldn't see her. "I got it!" she said. "I just need a second!"

"Take your time," Miranda told her with just a hint of reproach.

The young goddess clicked on the CAS icon on her computer and bit her lip as she entered all the information into the spaces provided. Double checking her numbers, she hit the "SEND" key.

PASSWORD?

She felt her blood run cold. Swallowing, she hit the mic again.

"We might have a problem," she gasped out.

"The devil you say," Miranda quipped back.

"It's asking for a password!" Skuld hissed.

"And I assume by your tone you don't have one."

"I didn't think we'd need one!"

There was silence for a few moments. Then Miranda came back on. "Skuld, I trust you. I know you'll find a way to hack one, or get through the system. I believe in you, all right?"

Skuld nodded. "Yeah, yeah, okay! I'm on it!"

888

"I believe in you, all right?" Miranda said into the mic. She listened for a moment then turned it off, turning to Keiichi and Gaeriel. "We're all gonna die," she noted.

"What's Plan B?" Keiichi asked.

Miranda looked up at the dark, chittering sky. "I saw a group of these things devour an entire platoon that was too loaded down with wounded to escape in time," she said. "They'll keep sucking the energy out of that field until Frigga and Urd are spent, then Gaeriel and I will step in to keep it going a little longer, and then... the field will collapse and those little bastards will come in here and _really_ ruin our picnic."

"Eaten by ants," Keiichi said with a nod. "That's all you had to say. 'Eaten by ants.' That pretty much sums the whole thing up."

"Is there anything we can do?" Gaeriel asked.

"Yeah," Miranda told her. "Hope someone upstairs likes us."

888

"Commander!"

Upstairs, Lind looked down at the Valkyrie who had hailed her. "Yes?"

"Ma'am, do you remember that fake CAS program you had me add to the intel data folder?" he asked. "Someone's trying to use it."

"Excellent," Lind breathed as she stepped down onto the TOC floor toward the viewing cube. "Spike their connection and give me a look at what they're doing."

The Valkyrie, one of Lind's Network Operations and Security Center techs, typed in several commands, linking their network with Skuld's. A real-time image of Skuld's computer desktop appeared on the cube.

"What is she doing now?" Lind asked.

Gwydion looked over the imagery. "She's trying to order a CAS mission for the demonic side of the Styx," he said. "But she doesn't know the password." He grunted at the girl's pluck. "So she's trying to guess it."

"Any chance of that happening?" Lind asked him.

"It's been known to happen before," he said. "A certain, well-known mortal managed to guess the NOSC connection number, but honestly..." He shook his head.

Lind looked over the data on the cube and could guess the situation Skuld's friends were in. They were obviously trapped, surrounded by an arthropedic enemy, mostly likely Fury Ants, and that meant they weren't going to last long without help.

Unfortunately, the only way they could get that help required Lind to disobey orders from Michael.

"Commander?" Gwydion asked softly.

The Valkyrie leader was aware of the eyes of every warrior in the TOC bearing down on her. She thought about Belldandy, how the gentle goddess had helped her discover herself during the Angel Eater fiasco. She thought about that group of gods surrounded by Fury Ants because they had the brass to do what her own Valkyries had been forbidden from doing.

"_They should all be able to come home,_" her words to Frigga came back to her. "_Every last one of them. But my oath is to defend Heaven..._"

She took a breath. "Authenticate her request," she ordered.

"Lind?" Gwydion whispered, shocked into using her name rather than her rank.

"I want heat on that lingo," she said calmly. She turned to her operations rep. "Who do we have in the Styx?"

The Valkyrie paused but quickly found the information. "Um... Ripcord One and Two are on aerial patrol. They can be on location in four minutes, but Ma'am... Nidhogg will detect them. They'll know we've been there."

"Vector Ripcord One and Two to that location and pass on the information provided to us," Lind calmly instructed him.

As the tactical rep went to work, Gwydion approached and whispered in her ear.

"What about the rules of engagement?" he asked.

"We should have been engaged long before this," she whispered back. "We've been waiting for an opportunity, this is it. I am charged with defending gods and goddesses. I see a group of what could be a group of people who got lost and are now under attack. I am duty-bound to defend them."

"Nice story," he noted with an arched eyebrow.

"I'll have to come up with something better before I talk to Michael," she replied regretfully.

888

Skuld's eyes widened as she saw the message on her screen.

PASSWORD ACCEPTED. MISSION UPLOADED. TIME TO TARGET: 4 MINUTES.

"It worked! I did it!" she screamed into the mic. "They're coming! They're coming!"

"What?!" Sentaro cried, surprised by her shouting and rushing to her side. "What is it?!"

She turned and kissed him full on the lips before turning back to the computer. "I _so_ rule!" she cried.

888

Miranda turned to Gaeriel. "We've got incoming!" she cried. "Pour as much energy into that shield as you can!" She closed her eyes and raised her hands over her head, mimicking Urd and Frigga.

"What should I do?!" Keiichi asked quickly.

"Duck! And don't look up!"

He blinked and turned as suddenly a bright, white light filtered through the mass of insects over them. Flinching, he held his hands up, blotting it out.

"Close your eyes! Don't look at the light!" Frigga shouted.

Keiichi shut his eyes, but he could hear that something was happening above him. The chittering had become panicked squeals and he wondered if this is what real ants sounded like when they were burnt by a magnifying glass.

The sound stopped. Tentatively, he opened one eye and looked up. The ants were still there, but no longer moving. Instead of a bright angry red, they had all turned white.

Urd and Frigga fell to their knees as they lowered the force field, and suddenly Keiichi was covered in a white powdery substance that was once the giant ants. At first he thought it was ash, but it felt too coarse. Some had gotten on his face and lips and he could taste what it was.

"They turned to salt?" he asked in disbelief.

"What?" Miranda asked. "You think Sodom and Gomorrah was a myth?"

He shook the substance out of his hair and rushed to Urd, who was having trouble rising to her feet. The boy took her arm and helped guide her up.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice heavy with more concern now that he knew her situation.

"I'm fine," she said with a wave. "But suddenly wishing I had some margaritas."

Sighing with relief of her own, Miranda keyed her mic. "Skuld, I owe you a Coke. Good job."

888

Skuld only vaguely made out what Miranda had said. She was busy at the moment kissing her new steady boyfriend.

888

"Well," Gwydion whispered. "We're in it now."

Lind nodded. "Colonel, prepare a team and gather what's necessary for a light, mobile command post, light security."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "Where will they be deploying to?"

She turned, the faintest hint of a smile gracing her lips.

_To Be Continued..._

**Author's Notes:**

I know, it's been awhile. Sorry about that. Real life takes a toll. Come January, I'm going to disappear for about six months on "business."

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8

**SNEAK PREVIEW...**

The phone rang again.

The goddess's hand hung over it as if suspended there by some unknown force. The most natural thing in the world for her, something she had done thousands of times before, was to pick it up and answer it. It was the first step in granting a wish, and yet...

It rang again, and still she paused.

The ring Skuld had given her that morning twinkled in the light over the device. Why did she pause? The person on the other end of the phone was a client, someone who was to be offered Heaven's Grace. There was nothing to fear from them.

Another ring. Other goddesses in the office were now craning their heads around the walls of their cubicles to see what the problem was. She knew without looking that that's what they were doing, and yet she didn't turn to them or react. Her eyes were transfixed on the phone.

"Um... Are you going to get that?" one of the other granting goddesses asked her pointedly.

She didn't answer as the phone rang again.

_Why do I hesitate?!_ she asked herself. She couldn't explain it, she just knew that answering that phone was the _wrong thing to do!_

Silence.

As if snapping awake from a dream, her hand darted to the phone and snatched it up.

"Hello!" she cried into the receiver. "Hello!? Are you there?!"

Only a dial tone answered her. A ball of ice plunged into her stomach as she began to realize what she had done. The stars themselves had to align perfectly before a goddess and client were matched up. There was no redial, no Star-69. It was her job to grant that person's wish... and she failed.

_You didn't fail,_ the professional side of her scolded her. _Failing implies you tried and did not succeed. You simply turned your back on your holy duty..._

Tears threatened to appear in her eyes. What had she done?

"Belldandy?"

Her head whipped around to the sound of the voice so fast, she was sure she would break her own neck. "Hai?" she asked.

Freya, the goddess in charge of the Goddess Help Line, stood at the end of the line of cubicles. Her blonde hair and perfect features could not lessen the disapproving look that was glaring accusingly at Belldandy.

"I'd like to speak with you alone," the elder goddess said politely before turning and walking away.

The rest of the granters looked at her in concern and wonder. Belldandy was one of the best granters in Heaven. Why would she simply freeze like that?

Belldandy took a breath and rose from her chair, giving one last look at the phone now sitting silently on her desk.

_Who were you?_ she wondered. _I'm so sorry..._

Turning, she followed Freya down the hall.

Rather than end up in the other goddess's office, Freya led her outside into the courtyard garden and stood near the small waterfall and pond at the far right corner, admiring the multi-colored plants and flowers that were blooming there.

The sights were lost on Belldandy. The young goddess was staring at the ground in shame, bracing herself for the scolding that was sure to come.

Freya regarded her carefully for several moments before speaking. "Belldandy," she began quietly. "What's wrong?"

"Ms. Freya?" Belldandy asked, her gaze rising to meet the older goddess's.

The head of the Help Line took a breath. "Missing a call, Belldandy?" she asked. "That's not like you. What happened?"

Belldandy swallowed nervously, painfully aware that _she_ didn't even know what happened. "The phone rang," she said. "And... I didn't answer it," she answered honestly. "I don't know why I didn't," she went on after a moment of silence between the two. "I just... Something inside me said I shouldn't... that it was important that I not answer that call..."

Freya took a breath and put her knuckles to her lips in thought. "Was there some warning from another goddess or..."

The young granter shook her head. "No, nothing like that!" she said, a tear running down her cheek. "I simply... failed to act..."

Turning away from her, Freya took a step toward the garden as Belldandy waited for her punishment.

"We have a duty, Belldandy, to make people happy by acting as the conduits of the Almighty's will," Freya told her. "Whether we agree with that will or not is irrelevant..."

"I don't disagree!" Belldandy defended. "I don't even know who this person is!"

"Whoever they are," Freya replied, turning back to her. "They have lost their opportunity for a happiness _you_ were supposed to provide!" She shook her head in disbelief. "Belldandy..."

"Please, Ms. Freya!" Belldandy begged. "Let me make this right! I don't know why I didn't act! I can't explain it to myself so how can I explain it to you?! All I know is that... I... I failed." She swallowed back a sob and took a breath. "Is there any way I can make this right?"

The elder goddess studied her for several moments, unsure what to think. Belldandy was one of her best granters. This was so out of character for her...

But the bottomline was that she had a duty and she didn't do it. She had to punish her. The director couldn't play favorites with her girls. She sighed.

"Go home," she said. "I'll think about it."

Belldandy wiped tears from her eyes. "Hai," she said. She turned and started for the door. Stopping at her desk to pick up her things, her eyes fell once again on the silent phone, its rotary dial staring accusingly at her.

"Who are you?" she whispered aloud.

**Ah! My Goddess!**

**Second Dawn**

Coming soon

_"Hope has a place..."_


	26. Blaze of Glory

Disclaimer: AMG is not mine. Mr. Bubbles is the property of 2K Games. Brumaks are the property of Epic Games.

**Choix**

_**Chapter 26**_

_**Blaze of Glory**_

_**

* * *

  
**_

**"False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil."**

_Socrates_

_

* * *

  
_

Krieg adjusted the flower vase again to make sure it was just right. The goddess lying on the bed below him made no sign of approval or disapproval, remaining in her comatose state.

The rampant adjusted it again and looked down at her.

"One day," he said. "I will earn your forgiveness." He took a breath. "Until then, I must say goodbye. I have arranged for you to be returned to Heaven after we leave. You will be cared for."

The goddess said nothing.

Before Krieg could continue, the lights in his room turned red and a loud horn blared in a steady rhythm. He responded immediately, reaching for his weapons and armor before the voice even came over the loudspeaker.

"ACTION STATIONS! ACTION STATIONS! ALL PERSONNEL SET CONDITION X-RAY! REPEAT! ACTION STATIONS! ACTION STATIONS!"

888

Peorth hugged Tabitha to her chest as Metheus placed his hand on the tall crystal, activating the scanner that glowed a soft red.

"Wynn?!" she cried. "What's going on?! What is it?!"

The scanner verified his identity, and the crystal softened to a thick, viscous liquid. Reaching inside, he pulled out his carbine and rapier.

"Wynn?!"

"We're under attack," he said simply as he fastened his weapons to his belt and armor. He started out the door. "Stay here."

Peorth watched and listened as the comm jewel on his bracelet squawked. "My Lord, all recovery agents report combat ready. The Inquisition is at Condition X-Ray."

"Understood," he replied into it. "I'm heading to the CP."

The door closed, leaving the goddess and child alone.

"Maman," Tabitha whimpered. "Is everything okay?"

Peorth hugged her. "Everything's fine, Petite. Everything's fine."

888

Carestia sat next to Krieg in the briefing room and whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "When the alarm went off, I think I lost ten years of my life. I thought..."

"Yes," Krieg replied, cutting her off. He took a deep breath. "I thought we were discovered as well."

They two had spent three hours at their pre-assigned battle stations, waiting for some kind of attack or assault against the palace, but none had materialized. Finally, they received orders to report to the briefing room where supposedly Metheus would tell them and the rest of the Inquisition what was going on.

"RISE!"

Every recovery agent in the room stood up as Metheus entered and approached the podium at the front of the room. Taking his place behind it, he gave it a three-count before looking up at them.

"Sit."

As one, they all sat down, and Metheus began his briefing.

"Three hours ago, the palace received word that a column of Fury Ants on patrol on our side of the Styx had failed to respond to a communication from Nidhogg," he began. "This coincides with the detection of two aerial contacts that crossed the Styx and returned to the Heaven side shortly after. Those Fury Ants have been confirmed destroyed in what we can only assume was an aerial attack."

The demons in the room muttered to one another at this. If true, it meant that war was just over the horizon.

For Carestia, it meant something else.

"Interesting," she whispered to Krieg.

"Since it is unlikely that Fury Ants would be chosen as a first-strike target," Metheus went on, "We can assume that they fell prey to a close air support mission after engaging another target. To sum it up," he said, slapping the podium with his hand. "Valkyries have landed in Hell."

Carestia listened eagerly.

"At this moment, we are taking a passive posture," Metheus went on. "The goal is to draw these Valkyries in closer, whittle them down with our guard forces and then crush them once they are too far from their lines for Heaven to easily help them. That's what the Hellriders are going to do. We, in the meantime, will increase our security here with an emphasis on our tier one personalities, the most vital of which, aside from Her Majesty of course, is our... beloved crown princess, Belldandy."

"We'll take that one."

Metheus looked up in surprise. So did Krieg, as the announcement came from the demoness sitting next to him. Carestia matched Metheus's stare as if daring him to contradict her.

"_You_ will?" Metheus asked with a hint of amusement.

"That's right," Carestia told him. She gestured to Krieg. "We'll augment the Elites. That should free up more agents for other security details."

The high inquisitor arched an eyebrow. The pause prompted Carestia to continue speaking, something she knew was always a bad idea yet couldn't help.

"Unless, of course," she said. "You know someone more qualified than Basken and I."

Krieg's eyes went wide, and it took a moment for Carestia to realize her slip. Cursing to herself, she hoped Metheus missed it.

Finally, the inquisitor nodded. "Very well. You'll take command of Her Highness's security detail. Coordinate with the Elite Guard. "Next, we need three agents to..."

Krieg leaned over to her and whispered. "You nearly killed us both."

"I still may have," she whispered back. "Metheus isn't stupid. Watch your back and don't go anywhere alone."

He nodded and sat back. Both the rampants waited nervously for the briefing to end.

888

Skuld heard the knock on the door, and her heart skipped a beat. Sentaro had left about half an hour ago, but perhaps after their long "talk," the boy had more to "say."

The young goddess took off her headset and started for the door. As she did, she made a silent promise to her sister that she would never give Keiichi a hard time again. Finally understanding how her older sister felt made her realize that she'd been the villain in their romance manga of a life since she shoved her way into it.

Throwing open the door, she smiled. "Sentaro! Did you forg..." Her eyes went wide and she quickly slammed the door shut, throwing her back against it.

"Oh, crap!" she whispered in panic.

The person on the other side of the door knocked again.

"Skuld," Lind's even voice came through the oak. "We need to talk to you."

The Norn rushed to the laptop and started typing furiously, throwing everything she'd been working on behind a password even as Heaven's top Valkyrie knocked again.

"Skuld..."

"Skuld's gone," Skuld called back, lowering her voice to as low an octave as she could. "You've got the wrong room! This is... This is Biff! I'm a... um... a biker! Yeah! A big, mean biker! A...A... Hell's Baboon! We're rough and tough and bad!" She continued typing as fast as she could, her fingers missing keys in her panicked rush.

Her finger jabbed the enter key, and she whirled around as Lind casually pushed the door open, taking the lock and some of the doorframe with it. She nodded to the Norn as other Valkyries entered.

"Good evening, Skuld," she said.

"Oh, Lind!" Skuld said in surprise. "I didn't hear you knock. What's up?"

One of the Valkyries turned her laptop toward himself and started working. Others were setting up their own equipment throughout the room.

Lind looked down at her. "Where are they now?" she asked. "It's important that I know."

"Who's 'they'?"

"Skuld," Lind said, a hint of warning entering her voice.

Knowing the jig was up, Skuld turned defiant. "Forget it!" she said. "I'll never talk! And you'll never find them! I have my computer locked with a forty-three _thousand_ digit, fractal encryption code synched with the atomic clock at the Naval Observatory in Maryland! There is no way in Heaven, Earth or Hell that you'll _ever_ find their loc..."

"Twenty-two miles, north-north-east of Point Echo," the tech spoke up, looking over the information on Skuld's computer. "It looks like they passed into Hell proper about an hour ago."

Skuld blinked at him in surprise.

The tech shrugged at her. "I'm good at math."

"How many?" Lind asked him.

The tech turned back to the holotop. "It looks like four goddesses and a _mortal_," he said in disbelief.

"Morisato san," Lind breathed. "Two of the goddesses are surely Urd and Lady Frigga," she continued, turning back to Skuld. "Given the audacity of the plan, I'm willing to bet the third goddess is Miranda and the fourth..." She held a finger up expectantly as another Valkyrie standing behind her lowered a cell phone.

"Ma'am, Lieutenant Gaeriel isn't answering her cell!"

"Lieutenant Gaeriel," Lind finished.

She turned back to Skuld, who was starting to get a very bad feeling about how this was going. "I need to speak to Miranda."

The Norn found her courage and scowled. "No... way..." she bit out. "You can just turn around and walk out that door right now, because I will never... _ever_..."

"Ma'am, we brought that ice cream you asked for," a new Valkyrie announced from the doorway, holding up two plastic bags filled with half-gallon containers of ice cream.

"I...Ice cream?" Skuld whimpered, here eyes starting to mist up.

Lind turned back to her. "Yes," she sighed. "I thought we might get hungry so I had one of my Valkyries make a run to Rock Cold Creamery..."

"That's... the best... _kind_!" Skuld breathed, her legs going wobbly.

"But since we're not going to be here long, I guess we'll just toss it all in the garbage disposal." She nodded to the Valkyrie who started scooping German Chocolate Cake flavored ice cream into the drain.

"No! You can't!" Skuld cried.

"Hmm?" Lind asked. "What was that? I can't hear you over the disposal."

Skuld actually flinched as the whirring sound of the hotel kitchen's garbage disposal started grinding up the nuts and coconut in the ice cream.

"_STOP IT! STOP IT! YOU'RE WASTING IT!"_ Skuld cried in agony, her hands clamped over her ears to try to blot out the horrible sound.

"Skuld, I don't want to hurt them," Lind told her. "I don't even want them to fail in their mission. But if I'm going to be able to do anything to help them, I need to speak to Miranda."

Another half gallon went down the disposal with a sickening slurping sound.

"Aww," the Valkyrie with the scoop whimpered. "That mint chocolate delight looked super yummy..."

"Will... Will you call off your dogs if I help you?" Skuld asked, shivering in emotional pain.

888

Miranda led the group down the steep hill, careful to avoid the razor-rocks that jutted up at them like stone phalanxes. They had entered the main realm of Hell not long ago, and if they thought the demon side of the Styx was bad, they hadn't seen anything yet. The sky overhead was either black or red depending on the weather, and not a blade of grass was yet to be seen. Volcanoes in the distance constantly belched black smoke into the air with no hint of slowing or abating.

As they reached the bottom of the hill, Miranda heard a new transmission come through her earpiece. The voice on the other end forced her to freeze.

"Wild Card One, this is Arc Light, come in."

Miranda didn't move. Keiichi looked between the goddesses in puzzlement.

"Is that Lind?" he asked.

"Who's Wild Card One?" Urd asked.

"Wild Card One, this is Arc Light, come in."

Miranda said nothing. Lind tried again.

"Arc Light to identify Eta Team," Lind said. "Miranda, Basken, Zuriel, Lei Gong, Elra, Bendis, Wynn, Lukos. Come in, over."

The Valkyrie bit her lip and clicked her bone mic. "There are no more Wild Cards, Commander," she bit out. "They're dead or rampant. And you would know better than anyone as you tried to banish one and sidelined me."

"We all took an oath to defend Heaven," Lind replied. "I don't doubt that everything you've done, you've done with that goal foremost in mind."

"Gracious of you," Miranda replied coolly.

"And it is with that goal in mind that I must consider what to do now," Lind told her. "A goddess is being held in Hell against her will. My oath dictates that I must make some effort to retrieve her while that same oath tells me to do what I must to safeguard the rest of Heaven. It would seem that your actions have taken the choice away from us."

"The choice?" Miranda asked. "You mean the initiative."

Lind ignored the outburst. "As a result, I have little choice but to assist you in your plan."

Miranda went all in. "Then send me a couple of Seraphims with a few squads of back-up."

"Negative."

"For shit's sake, Lind!" Miranda growled. "Give me a couple of birds and this can be over in two hours!"

"Negative on air support at this time," Lind repeated. "Hell's air defense array went active after our last incursion. They'll fire on any bird straying into their territory. You're it."

"So much for help," Miranda grunted. "I'd rather not have it. After everything I've given up for this mission, I'm not about to lose it all by trusting in the same Valkyries who both caused and exacerbated this situation."

"Beggars can't be choosers," Lind pointed out. "Think about the mission."

"When have I _ever_ failed a mission?" Miranda asked bitterly. "I'll complete this one. You want to help? Fine! Help! If not, then stay out of the way!"

"Think about what you're doing, Miranda," Lind said. Her tone softened. "You are the last of an elite unit. You have a wealth of experience we're in desperate need of. Don't throw it all away."

"Potential not used is still lost," Miranda said. "We'll be in touch." She tapped her bone mic, ending the conversation. She stood there, lost in thought for a moment as the others watched.

Finally, Urd stepped forward. "Okay, fess up."

Miranda looked up at her. "What?"

Frigga joined her stepdaughter a moment later. "Yes," she agreed. "The time has come for total truth between us."

"When we asked you how you were going to get us over the Styx, you went dodgy," Urd said. "Now you're refusing to let Lind help because it's too risky? How _did_ you get us over the river? _What did you give them?_"

Miranda didn't answer.

"Whatever it was, it must have been worth whatever hit Hild would take as a result," Frigga went on gently, sympathy touching her eyes as a suspicion came to her mind. "What did you trade, child?"

The Valkyrie looked away for a moment, her teeth gritted in frustration. Finally, she turned back to them and gave them an answer.

"Me," she said. "I gave them my immortal soul."

888

Carestia took a deep breath as she and Krieg walked down the hallway toward Belldandy's quarters, a part of her still certain that they had been discovered ages ago and the Inquisition was just waiting for them to dig themselves too deep to get out again.

All of the arrangements had been made. Because of the heightened alert, Nidhogg was closely guarding the hardlines in the palace, so their only hope was to get out of the castle and get to either the Styx or the team of Valkyries making their way toward them. But first, they needed the princess.

"Last chance to back out," she muttered, checking the action on her carbine.

Krieg didn't answer. She took that as a vote to continue on. They approached the two Elites standing outside the door, and Carestia nodded to the door. "Open it."

The Elite hissed in response. Carestia growled at him.

"We have orders to escort the princess to Lord Metheus," she bit out. "And I haven't the time to entertain the concerns of a lesser being. Open it."

Realizing he was speaking to a superior officer but not liking it one bit, the Elite opened the door and allowed them inside. The rampants passed two more Elites who watched them warily as they approached Belldandy, who was rising from her bed to greet them.

She bowed to them in greeting. "Carestia san," she said. "Is something wrong?"

"We're to escort you to the Inquisition, Principessa," Carestia told her. "Lord Metheus wishes to move you around to foil any attempts on your person."

Belldandy nodded in resignation. The Elites began to form up around her.

"Not you," Krieg noted. The Elite captain looked at him in puzzlement. "Lord Metheus wants the guard around Her Majesty doubled. Your Elites will report to the throne room. We'll handle the princess's security."

The captain barked a firm negative to this, and the others fingered their weapons.

Carestia allowed a flash of rage to come over her face. "You... _dare_... question the High Inquisitor?" she breathed.

The captain growled, and at that point, the rampant was certain they were going to have to fight here in Belldandy's chambers. Too early in the plan for it to work, too late to back out.

Ironically enough, it was Belldandy who came to their rescue.

"Captain, please," she said gently, placing her hand on the Elite's arm. "There is a compromise here, I'm certain. Perhaps three of you go to the throne room. Ssselessmeshala can accompany us to make sure my defense is more... robust?"

The captain hissed bitterly, not liking this idea, but realizing that it was probably the best he could get. He nodded at Belldandy and gestured to Ssselessmeshala, who nodded in acknowledgement.

Carestia sighed as if bored by the whole thing. "Have it your own way," she muttered. She turned and led them out, Krieg taking up the rear. She looked behind them momentarily to make sure the Elite captain wasn't getting any ideas about following them. Satisfied that they were alone, she led them further downward, toward the Pit.

With Peorth living with Metheus, Carestia knew the Pit was unoccupied at the moment. She also knew the one great irony of the Pit, one that only she, Krieg and Metheus now knew. The inescapable prison was the only escape from the palace. A tunnel at the bottom of the slime-pit led to a drainage way that led out of the castle. Everyone who had ever sat in that cold, despicable place had done so with salvation waiting for them a mere thirty feet below.

She led the goddess and the Elite into a steel-walled room that acted as a kind of waiting room where prisoners sat until the Pit was ready to accept them or the guards were done beating them. The door shut behind them.

Suddenly, her soulblade was at Ssselessmeshala's throat as she whispered to him from behind. "If you make one move, I'll..."

The next thing she knew, she was colliding with the steel wall where the Elite had thrown her. She turned just as the shadowy creature grabbed Krieg by the throat and _lifted_ him two feet into the air.

She leapt onto his back again and pressed the blade to his throat. "Let's try this again, shall we?" she asked painfully.

"Stop it!" Belldandy demanded. "What are you doing?!"

Ssselessmeshala froze, weighing his options as Carestia responded to the goddess.

"We're getting you out of here," she said. "Just as soon as we deal with your little Boy Scout here..."

"No!" Belldandy commanded. "Leave him alone! Ssselessmeshala, release Mr. Krieg!"

None of them moved. Belldandy's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Now!" she thundered.

Slowly, the Elite lowered Krieg to the floor while Carestia removed the knife from his throat.

"Now, please explain," Belldandy asked in a kinder voice.

Carestia didn't move her eyes off the Elite as she spoke. "We're leaving," she said. "We're bringing you back to Heaven."

Belldandy blinked. "A trick," she accused with just a hint of hopeful doubt in her voice.

The demoness finally turned to her. "No," she said. "Basken and I want out. The only chance we have surviving that kind of choice is to buy our freedom... with you."

The Norn said nothing.

"You wish to stay?" Krieg demanded.

"No," Belldandy whispered. Fire returned to her eyes. "But we can't leave yet."

"Why not?" Carestia asked, furrowing her brow.

"I can't leave without Peorth," Belldandy said.

"Peorth's gone," Carestia told her. "She's Metheus's woman now. He's got her mind-fucked to the point where..."

"Peorth comes with us," Belldandy interrupted. "Please don't misunderstand," she went on. "I appreciate the risks you're taking, but I also appreciate the fact that you're not doing it strictly for my benefit. You need me... as much if not more than I need you. Peorth comes with us or there will be no bargain."

The demoness threw a look to Krieg, who shrugged. Springing Peorth would actually be harder than rescuing Belldandy. The Elites were fearsome warriors, but not the brightest when it came to intrigue. Peorth, on the other hand, was watched twenty-four-seven by a member of the Inquisition, and a zealot at that.

"What about Fido here?" she asked the goddess, cocking her head to the Elite.

Belldandy turned to Ssselessmeshala, looking up at him. "Ssselessmeshala, I'm returning to Earth. You are welcome to come with me. If not, I will understand, but we will have to incapacitate you until..."

The Elite shook his head and whispered in response, prompting Belldandy to smile. "Then I will look to you for protection," she said.

"If we're going to do this, we need to go now," Krieg rumbled. "It will not be long before the Elites realize they have been misled."

"Fine, let's go," Carestia replied, leading the way.

888

"Miranda, for the Almighty One's love, why?" Frigga asked in quiet horror.

"Don't take that tone with me, Milady," Miranda growled back. "Your pity is neither desired nor requested." She backed off her confrontational tone a moment later and explained. "It was the only way to solve certain problems. There was no way to get over the Styx undetected without someone on the demonic side willing to help."

"So they know we're coming?" Keiichi asked.

Miranda shook her head. "Demonic contracts aren't like wishes. They can be negotiated to a certain point. No one knows, on either side. The demon I contracted with was willing to go as far as helping me and whoever I bring with me over the Styx." She gave them a sardonic smile. "My soul was worth that much, at least. Once I crossed the river... I knew I wasn't coming back over it."

"I don't know what to say," Frigga said.

"Say nothing," Miranda told her. "I traded my soul for the opportunity to right a wrong. And I intend to do exactly that. Belldandy is just a bonus. My mission is to get my three Wild Cards out of Hell."

"But the cost..." Gaeriel whispered.

"The _price_," Miranda corrected.

"What's the difference?" Keiichi asked.

The Valkyrie turned to him. "A cost is something you lose. A price is something you give. It's my soul, and I got a fair trade for it. I have no regrets. And I won't have any regrets unless we fail." She shouldered her carbine. "So, on that note, if we could move this along..."

"Are those rampants really worth it?" Gaeriel asked.

Miranda turned to her. "There is no greater love in Heaven or Hell as that between those who've faced death together," she told her. "You're young, you haven't seen much combat. One day you will, and when you do, you'll know that the Valkyries on either side of you are _worth_ dying for."

Gaeriel looked at her feet and thought of her teacher. "Yes... I understand."

The Valkyrie officer turned to the others. "None of you wouldn't be here if you didn't love Belldandy the same way and not a one of you would have chosen to not make the same sacrifice. Now let's go. I'm done wasting my time here."

She started walking again. The others fell into step behind her.

888

"This will be more difficult than you realize," Carestia warned Belldandy as the group approached Metheus's quarters.

"Is Metheus there?" Belldandy asked hesitantly.

"No," the former pilot told her. "But Peorth is watched by a member of the Inquisition at all time. She'll have to be dealt with first. Are you prepared for that?"

Belldandy paused as she mulled this over. "Try not to harm her," she said.

"Right, whatever," Carestia replied.

"It's important," the Norn told her. "It's not enough to seek forgiveness, you must make yourself worthy of it. You have to be the goddess you wish to be. That means you should not kill unless you must."

The soldier thought on this and finally nodded. "Very well. We'll do it your way. But I honestly believe there will be no other way."

"We shall see," Belldandy said.

Carestia nodded to Krieg, who took up a position on the far side of the door. Raising her hand, the demoness banged on the door and waited.

"Qui-est ce?" Belldandy smiled at hearing her friend's voice, but Carestia and Krieg knew they would have to act quickly.

"Her Majesty's Inquisition!" Carestia thundered, raising her carbine. "Open the door!"

Belldandy heard the lock click, and the door opened a hair. Carestia and Krieg shoved their way inside.

"Where is she?!" Krieg demanded as they covered the room.

Peorth, blinking in shock, looked at them in frightened puzzlement. "Who?!"

"Your minder!" Carestia demanded. "Where is she?!"

"I don't kno... Belldandy?!" Peorth cried, catching sight of the Norn and her Elite.

"Peorth!" Belldandy replied happily. "I'm so happy to see you sa..."

"Maman?"

Belldandy's blood went cold and her face turned white as a little girl entered the room.

"_You see the beauty in what he's doing now, goddess?" Tabitha asked her as she gestured to the screen and the horrors being inflicted on her Keiichi. "It's important not to inflict third degree burns too quickly. It kills the nerves and he'll cease to feel the pain. So it's important to burn him only a little at a time..."_

Tabitha's eyes went wide at the sight of Belldandy. Her wrist shot up to her lips to call for help, but a blast of wind hit the demon dead on and slammed her up against the wall. The demon girl screamed as the hurricane-force winds pressed her into the stone so hard she was leaving an imprint.

Belldandy, her eyes red in rage, approached her, her hand outstretched as she actively tried to increase the pressure on the girl.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Peorth screamed. "STOP IT!" She grabbed Belldandy's arm and was rewarded with a vicious slap across the face from the Norn's other hand.

"_You have to give him some credit," Tabitha taunted her. "We haven't heard him beg yet. Tough guys usually call out for their mommies. Does your Keiichi have a mommy? Or will he call out for you? Let's find out..._"

Tabitha screamed in pain as Belldandy's rage and hate added power to her attack. The Norn felt someone grab her arm again and she lashed out again. Unlike Peorth, however, Ssselessmeshala wasn't fazed by the strike. He held her arm and whispered to her the same words she had to him, words about forgiveness and what must be done to attain it.

Belldandy felt the rage storm start to subside, and the wind began to slacken. Finally, with a deep breath, the Norn fell to her knees.

Peorth ran to Tabitha and hugged her.

"Are you all right?! Are you okay?!"

"Get away from her," Carestia ordered, gesturing with her carbine. "Now!"

"Stay away from her!" Peorth ordered fiercely. "She's just a little girl!"

"She's one of them," Krieg rumbled. "A recovery agent."

"Liar!"

"Maman! I'm scared!" Tabitha whimpered, quietly reaching for the transmitter on her wrist.

"Just get out!" Peorth ordered. "When I tell Wynn of this, he'll..."

"She was my interrogator," Belldandy whispered.

Peorth looked at her and blinked. Belldandy, on her knees, her eyes pointed at the ground as she relived her shameful moments of weakness in the demon girl's power, whispered again.

"Wynn tricked you."

The other goddess shook her head in disbelief. "Non," she whispered. "I mean... surely... he..." She looked down at Tabitha. "Petite?"

Tabitha licked her lips nervously, knowing she was caught. She took a breath and...

"_MR. BUBBLES_!" she screamed.

Carestia was knocked to the ground as something massive smashed the wall at her right. Mr. Bubbles hooted angrily and raised his arm drill.

Krieg turned and opened fire on the monster. Fiery red tendrils of demonic energy bounced off the creature's armor as it crashed toward him.

"KILL THEM!" Tabitha screamed at it. "KILL ALL OF THEM! KILL THEM, MR. BUBBLES! KILL THEM!"

Krieg barely managed to duck under the spinning drill bit as Mr. Bubbles swung at him. The rampant wrapped his arms around the drill arm and grit his teeth as he fought against the creature's strength. Mr. Bubbles hooted in rage.

"Elra! Kill it!"

The Seraphim pilot leapt up onto the creature's back and drew her falchion, struggling to hang on as Mr. Bubbles thrashed beneath her. Suddenly, the creature broke free from Krieg's grip and swung around, knocking the rampant away.

Carestia lost her grip on her sword, and the weapon went flying across the room as she concentrated on just holding on.

Belldandy looked to Ssselessmeshala, who was careful to keep himself between Mr. Bubbles and his mistress. "Ssselessmeshala! Please help them!"

The Elite hissed and leapt forward, grabbing the creature's drill arm before it could attack again. Momentarily steady, Carestia screamed down to Krieg.

"Sword! Sword!"

The rampant drew his broadsword and threw it up to the pilot. Carestia caught it by the hilt and turned it, ramming the blade down through the top of the creature's helmet.

"MR. BUBBLES!" Tabitha screamed in alarm as the monster hooted loudly in pain.

Mr. Bubbles stumbled for a moment then fell forward, landing on the floor with a crash. His drill arm spun for a moment more then fell silent.

Carestia grit her teeth and stood up, retrieving her weapons before stalking back toward Tabitha.

"Now then," she purred. "Where were we?"

Tabitha stepped back against the wall as they approached. She looked up and found Peorth standing against the fall wall, her head bowed and her hand over her heart.

"Maman!" she called out in a whimper. "Maman! Don't let them hurt me! Please!"

Peorth didn't answer. She stared downward as a tear fell from her eye and hit the floor below.

"Well, Principessa," Carestia noted. "You were saying?"

Belldandy swallowed guiltily, more than aware that her actions were in direct contradiction to what she had asked of the demoness. Even so...

"She should be sealed," she said. "Vile person though she is... I... I do not wish her... de... d..." She bit her lip angrily and gave up. She wanted to say she didn't want to see the demon girl dead, but she could not tell a lie, even subconsciously.

"Seal her," she ordered.

Carestia turned back to the girl as Krieg looked for a flash seal. "You're lucky she's in charge," she noted. "I'd rather have you killed." Tabitha stared daggers at the rampant. "You're a zealot," Carestia went on. "A creepy, soulless zealot entirely too devoted to the Inquisitor."

"And you," Tabitha hissed, "... are nothing but a treasonous whore. To betray Hild is one thing, but to betray our Lord Inquisitor... that you will come to regret."

"You are very loyal to him," Belldandy muttered acidly. "I wonder what he's done to deserve such loyalty."

Tabitha smirked at her. "Change is coming, Princess." She made the title a curse. "You think rampancy is unique to gods? There are those of us who feel Hild has become too eccentric, too weak. Some of us seek a stronger horse on whom to wager, a demon not bound by the rules imposed by the Almighty One. Our Lord Metheus can be that for us. Hild will not sit long on the throne of Hell, I guarantee it!"

"There's nothing more dangerous than a convert," Carestia noted.

"You don't speak from faith," Belldandy whispered in amazement. "You know this as fact."

"Did you think it coincidence that nearly twenty recovery agents were able to fight alongside you to retrieve Peorth without any of them questioning for one second what Her Majesty wanted?" Tabitha asked Carestia. "Did you think our Lord Inquisitor accepted just anyone into the Inquisition?"

"He's been planning this?" Carestia asked in a horrified whisper.

Tabitha smiled as Krieg pressed the flash seal against her hand. She hissed as the connection took hold. "My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"

And then she was gone.

888

They rushed back to the Pit, hoping to beat the inevitable alarm they knew would come once someone walked past Metheus's room. As they descended the stairs, Belldandy put a hand on Peorth's shoulder. The brunette hadn't said a single word since Tabitha was sealed.

"Peorth?" Belldandy asked.

"I'm all right," Peorth whispered as they continued down the stairs. "I just thought... with time... I could change him back."

"Perhaps there is still hope for him," Belldandy replied sympathetically.

"Non," Peorth told her with a shake of her head. "There was a time when doing something... like that... would never have occurred to him as something possible even to a demon." She looked up at the Norn, tears in her eyes. "I don't know what it was," she said. "But it wasn't Wynn. I know that now."

The reached the bottom of the stairs and entered the steel waiting room. Carestia stopped suddenly and raised her weapon. The others saw what she was aiming at and froze, a gasp coming from Belldandy.

Metheus stood there, rapier drawn.

"Metheus," Carestia said in quiet greeting, her rifle not moving an inch.

"Going somewhere?" the Inquisitor asked them.

Krieg slowly moved to the left, quietly trying to bracket the rampant between them.

"We're leaving," Belldandy announced, pushing her way between Carestia and Metheus. "It's time to go."

"You swore an oath to Her Majesty," Metheus pointed out. "You can't just leave."

"One of the things I've come to appreciate about rampancy, Lord Metheus," Belldandy began, "Is the doors it opens. I swore an oath to the Almighty. I swore an oath to Mo... Hild," she forced out. "No matter what act I take in support of one, I violate the other. They've become... just words."

Metheus smiled. "And now you understand," he said. "And you must also understand that you will not be able to escape the choices you've made." He slowly circled her as he had before.

Ssselessmeshala hissed and leapt forward but stopped suddenly as Metheus's rapier flashed up like a bolt of lightning, resting the point at the Elite's throat. Carestia and Krieg raised their weapons, but Belldandy raised a hand, bidding them to lower them.

"My choices were my own," she told him. "I accept responsibility for them."

"Easy to say now," he replied, lowering his rapier. "You're a rampant," he bit out. "By their own laws they'll put you down like a rabid dog just for that. But they don't need that reason, do they? They can execute you for murder as well."

Tears sprang to Belldandy's eyes as her crime was thrown back in her face. She knew she would have to answer for what she had done to Nyd, to Heaven and to her sister.

"So be it," she whispered.

"And you two," Metheus said, turning to Carestia and Krieg. "You really think Heaven will simply let you go? Two rampants trading a third for their freedom? They'll have you pressed against a brick wall with carbines to your heads before your seventh minute in Heaven has passed."

"Then we die there," Krieg growled. "In Heaven. As gods! Rampant, yes, but gods! Gods by choice!"

Carestia nodded. "So be it."

His eyes came to rest on Ssselessmeshala. "Hell, they won't even bother killing you," he said. "They'll send you back and let Hild do it." He didn't give the Elite another thought, instead stepping slowly toward Peorth, who looked away sadly. "Peorth..."

"Leave her alone," Belldandy bit out. "Have you not done enough to her?"

He didn't listen to the goddess. "Peorth... I'm sorry... about what I did. I had to be sure. It's... complicated..."

She nodded. "Oui... It is."

"Peorth... stay with me," he whispered. "I'll make this up to you. I swear I will. We can still be together."

Peorth still wouldn't look at him.

"Stay... and I'll let the others go free," he said.

At this, she did look at him, but with anger in her eyes. "Mon Dieu," she whispered in amazement. "Listen to yourself. You're bargaining with me as if you're arguing the price of a suit! The Wynn I knew would be falling over himself trying to make amends for the things he's done, not trying to capitalize on them further!" She shook her head. "You... You're sick! It's not your fault, and I understand that... but you're sick. There's nothing left of Wynn in there." She laughed at the irony as she tapped her chest. "Only in here."

"Fleur..."

"The Wynn I know," she whispered at him, "Would, at the very least, step aside and let us go. And if he couldn't bring himself to do that, then he should at least have the common courtesy to kill me outright... instead of destroying me a piece at a time like Hild did to him."

He stepped back and gestured to the door to the Pit.

"I'm not going to kill you," he said quietly. "There are some choices even I won't make."

"You'll let us go?" Carestia asked. "Just like that?"

"I have my reasons," he said, not facing her. "See you at the next Fifty-Eighth reunion."

Krieg motioned for the others to move, but Metheus raised his hand again.

"Before you go," he rasped. "You have something else that belongs to me. I have plans for it. I'd appreciate having it back."

Carestia blinked and grit her teeth in disgust as she pulled the flash drive from her pocket. "You know," she said as she tossed the imprisoned Tabitha to him. "I'm not sure whether to root for you or not."

"It's the future," Metheus said, catching the flash drive out of the air.

"And what kind of future will it be?" Belldandy asked him.

He smiled at her. "One of our own choosing, Princess. Which is more than gods can claim." He turned and started out the door. "I'll give you half an hour before I raise the alarm."

888

"You think Skuld's okay?" Keiichi asked quietly as he looked up at the red stars that populated Hell's night sky. Camped for the night under a rocky overhang, the five would-be rescuers had huddled together, not even risking a fire.

"She's fine," Miranda told him. "Go to sleep."

He looked over at her and found that the others were sound asleep. All but her.

"You'll need your rest when the time comes," she told him.

"I can't sleep," he confessed. "I'm worried."

"Of course you are. We're close, very close. Probably see action tomorrow."

"No, I mean... about Belldandy," he went on. "Urd said she's changed. But... I mean... Could she really have changed _that_ much?"

Miranda looked at him and shook her head. "If I thought a person could really change _that_ much, would I be here now, trying to bring them back?"

Keiichi thought on this for a moment. "You gave up everything for this," he said.

"You'd do the same," she remarked.

"I don't know," he said. "Would I give up everything for just the _chance_?"

"Didn't you already?" she asked. "Did you think when they were torturing you they'd just stop if things got too rough? You've made that choice already, Keiichi. Don't worry about it."

"I just want to get her out of there," he whispered.

"We'll get her out," Miranda promised.

He bit his lip and turned to her again. "Is there any way to... well... take back your contract?" he asked.

"Keiichi," she sighed, "I'm all right with it. I spent my whole life willing to give my life for others. This will be a little harder... but still worth it."

The boy paused for a moment. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Yeah," she replied. "Me too."

888

"Get down! Get down!" Gaeriel hissed at them as they all ducked behind the boulders and rocks that littered their side of the road. The Valkyrie tried to duck a little lower as Keiichi felt the ground rumble beneath him.

They had been walking for nearly three days and aside from the attack by the Fury Ants, they hadn't come across a single patrol. Miranda finally had to admit that the intelligence Lind and the Combat Division were giving them was solid, steering them away from the patrols. But the closer they got to the capitol, the harder it was to dodge them.

The ground rumbled again, and he leaned toward Urd. "What is it?" he whispered.

"Shh!" Miranda shushed him. "Brumak."

"A what?"

A chest-rumbling roar answered him, and the boy peered around the rock he was hiding behind to catch a view of a nightmare.

It walked on two legs, like a tyrannosaurus almost, but its grey face was flat. The whatever-it-was carried what appeared to be guns on both its arms and a giant howitzer on its back, forcing it to hunch over.

He pulled back behind the rock, his face ashen.

"What the hell is that!?" he whispered in a shocked gasp.

"Brumak," Gaeriel said again. "And it's looking for us."

"What?!" Frigga replied in shock.

Miranda looked around her own boulder. The creature and its crew were definitely in a search configuration. "Sure as hell are," she agreed. "Stay quiet, it may just pass u..."

Something whistled out of the boulders on the other side of the highway, striking the creature in the side. The Brumak howled in pain as the object exploded, knocking it over and coming to rest fifty feet from where they were hiding. Red lances of light then shot toward it, striking at the crew sections at the top of the creature.

"Stay here," Miranda ordered as the firing tapered off. She held her carbine up and circled around, keeping the Brumak's body between her and the other side of the road. She saw two Brau Daemons taking cover from the hostile fire behind the creature's body. They didn't notice her, and she quickly raised her weapon and fired a short burst, killing both of the lesser demons.

Ducking behind cover, she waited, knowing her fire would draw more. But something tickled at the back of her senses. Something about the way that ambush played out. Killing a Brumak with one shot was a difficult thing to do... unless you practiced it constantly with daily drills...

"Wild Cards!?" she called out. It would only mean something to someone who recognized it. Otherwise, they'd just return fire.

Instead, she got a question tinged with a familiar accent.

"Who is it?!"

Relief and irritation flooded through the Valkyrie simultaneously, but it wasn't time to celebrate yet.

"It's Miranda!" she called back. "You fucking assholes could have killed us!"

Silence.

"Show yourself!" the woman called back to her.

"Fuck you! You come out first!" Miranda called back.

888

Krieg reloaded the particle bazooka while Carestia swore in Italian.

"How do we know it's not a trap?" he asked her as they both stared at the road below them. "They could be impersonating her to draw us out."

"Why would it even occur to them to do that?" she asked. "Metheus let us go. There's no point in him playing this game."

"Who is it?" Belldandy asked, hiding behind a rock nearby.

"It's Miranda," Peorth breathed beside her.

After swimming out of the Pit and into the drainage line, the group had made their way out of the castle the way the original Seven had made their way in. After dodging patrols for a day and a half, the mounted Brumak patrol had found them and stalked them for four hours before Carestia, Krieg and Ssselessmeshala had found a good place to ambush it.

"There's no way it's this easy," Carestia muttered. "We need a way to make sure."

Peorth quietly made her way to Carestia and spoke quickly into her ear. The rampant blinked at her and shrugged. "Okay, if you say so." She raised her voice and called out across the street again.

"What did Peorth tell you to tell the Combat Division and the Grigori?" she demanded.

They waited for an anxious ten seconds before the reply came back.

"That they can go fuck themselves!"

"It's her!" Peorth said with a smile, her first in days.

Carestia took a breath. Now it was time to do something shitty. She handed her carbine to Krieg. "Basken, watch them."

"Eh?" Peorth asked as the rampant turned the weapon on the two goddesses and the Elite.

"Carestia san!" Belldandy gasped in shock as the demonic soldier stood up and started down the hill. "What are you doing?"

She paused for a moment. "There's no deal yet," she told them. "Until there is, I can't risk you just taking off on your own. Hopefully, it'll just take a minute."

Ssselessmeshala hissed.

"And don't think for a moment, Elite, that I value your life more than my freedom," she breathed. "Krieg, if he looks at you funny, put a round in him."

"Yokai."

"You're no better than Metheus," Peorth gasped out.

Carestia paused. "No... I'm not. But if I'm lucky, I'll survive a little longer than him." She turned and started down the hill again.

888

Miranda watched her former subordinate stop at the edge of the road and hold her hands up.

"Sergeant Elra," she greeted.

"Colonel," Carestia replied. "I need to speak to someone with authority before we can go any further."

The words put Miranda on edge automatically. "I don't have a whole lot of time," she said. "We're here to get you out. Are Basken and Wynn with you?"

"You know I wouldn't tell you that," Carestia said. "And I sincerely doubt someone as AURAF as you has any authority in Heaven. If you don't have someone with authority here with you, then do you have secure communications with someone who does?"

"Why?" Miranda asked.

"I want to make a deal," the rampant called back. "At a secure location not far from here, I have two goddesses, one of them an acquaintance of yours. The other is..."

"Belldandy!?"

Miranda turned and found Frigga marching out from behind her boulder. "Lady Frigga..."

Frigga ignored her and walked up to the center of the road. "You have Belldandy?" she demanded.

Carestia nodded. "That's right."

"Is she safe?"

"She is."

Frigga breathed a sigh of relief. "Then what is there to talk about?"

"We need some... assurances," Carestia told her.

"Like what?"

"Basken and I want our freedom," the rampant said. "We want to come home... without ending up on the executioner's block."

Frigga looked hesitant. "My dear... you've done some very awful things... I'm not sure even I could grant you pardon in the Almighty One's name."

"We understand that we must earn our... forgiveness..." Carestia told her. "We only want the opportunity to do so. You have daughters. I have a son. I would do anything to see him again, and I know you would do the same for Belldandy. Death and sealing off the table. We'll take anything else."

"Done," Frigga said without hesitation.

Carestia seemed wary. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Frigga said. "You will make amends for your actions, but in return for Belldandy you have my assurance that death and sealing will be taken out of consideration."

The rampant chewed on that, thinking that perhaps this had all happened a little too easily. However, the only other option at this point was to renege on the offer, which would only cause more problems later. She nodded and turned to the hill, pumping her fist up and down three times.

The signal given, Belldandy and Peorth came down the hill, trying not to slide on the loose rock and gravel.

"Moder!" Belldandy cried. "Moder!"

Frigga rushed up and embraced her daughter, tears running down her face. "Are you all right? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

Before Belldandy could answer, something caught her eye. Pulling away from the goddess she rushed to the man approaching from the other side of the street. She wrapped her arms around Keiichi and hugged him fiercely as she wept.

"Keiichi! Keiichi! I'm so sorry! I..."

"It's okay, it's okay," he said quietly. "I love you, Belldandy! I love you so much!"

"I love you, Keiichi!"

"Are you okay?" he asked, not willing to let her go just yet. "Is the baby... Is the baby okay?"

"We're fine!" she cried back, smiling. "We're both fine! It's going to be a girl, Keiichi! We're having a girl!"

He hugged her harder and choked back a sob.

Miranda, standing next to Carestia and Krieg, watched the two embracing. "I think you've earned your place in Heaven just for this," she whispered.

"It's a start, I guess," Gaeriel agreed.

"There is much left to atone for," Krieg replied.

"You will," Miranda told them. "In the meantime, we're still not out of this. I need your LACE and any intel you can provide. Where's Wynn?"

"He's gone."

She turned to the response and found Peorth looking back toward the capitol. "He's just gone."

"There's a lot to back-brief you on," Carestia told the Valkyrie. "_A lot_."

888

Her eyes shut, Belldandy reveled in the feeling of being in Keiichi's arms again. For a moment, just a moment, it was like the last few weeks had never happened.

Then she felt it, a presence, a pair of eyes on her. Opening her eyes, she found Urd standing nearby, staring at them.

Belldandy swallowed as the guilt returned in full force. "Neesan..." she began.

Urd didn't stick around to listen. She turned and started for the Valkyries, who were standing beneath the body of the Brumak.

"We got what we came here for," she said with a touch of bitterness. "Shouldn't we be leaving?"

"Back the way we came?" Miranda asked. "I don't think so." They were standing around a floating, holographic map, showing them several markers and several dots that Carestia claimed were part of an ever-tightening noose of patrols. "We need a new exit." She tapped her bone mic. "Arc Light, Rescue One...." She paused suddenly, looking at Carestia and Krieg and allowing a smile to bloom across her face. "Scratch that," she said. "This is Wild Card One."

"Go ahead, Wild Card," one of Lind's Valkyries replied.

"Inform Division Actual that our primary target has been recovered along with three secondary targets. We're preparing to exfiltrate the area, but we need a new exit. I have new intel suggesting that we've been allowed to infiltrate this far, but if we backtrack we're going to run into heavy resistance."

"Hold one, Wild Card!"

"You're saying they _let us_ get this far in?" Urd asked in amazement.

It was Carestia who answered her. "Hild is wary of giving the Valkyries any kind of victory, no matter how small, lest it become a rallying point. If she attacked while you were close enough to escape, any survivors who made it out would become heroes." She smiled evilly. "Whereas tortured prisoners paraded through her throne room for all of Heaven to see would have a much better effect for her."

"So what do you think?" Frigga asked. "What do we do now?"

"They'll jam any hardline not attached to their network," Krieg supplied. "Otherwise, we could just use one of the old combat hardlines left over from the Golgotha Campaign." He pointed at a nearby area on the map.

"Wild Card One, Division Actual."

Miranda tapped her mic. "Wild Card One, go."

"I've been speaking to our techs and young Skuld," Lind said. "And I believe we have a way out for you."

"That's good news," Miranda quipped.

"Don't celebrate yet," Lind cautioned. "We have a way to break through the hardline jamming surrounding Hell's capitol, but you need to be on top of an existing hardline for it to work. A temp won't do it."

Miranda looked up and caught Krieg's eye. "Will an old combat hardline work?" she asked Lind.

"Possibly. If it's still functioning."

"All right," Miranda said, tapping an area of the map. "We'll head north and look for a leftover hardline." She looked up and found Ssselessmeshala. "You, Elite, you're Belldandy's bodyguard?" At the Elite's nod, she continued. "That's your sole job from now on. No matter what happens, she gets through the line. Understand?"

He nodded again and hissed.

"Okay, Krieg, Gaeriel up front. Urd, Carestia in the back. Noncombatants in the middle. Let's get off this street."

888

"I want her found, Inquisitor," Hild growled as she walked the perimeter of her throne room, her hands clasped behind her back. "Alive and unharmed."

Walking beside her, Metheus nodded as Tabitha, no worse for her sealing, followed behind them. "General Corus has already dispatched forces to cut them off, and measures are being taken to plug the... holes... in our security." He gave an almost imperceptible gesture to the group of Elites sitting on their knees in the center of the throne room, Recovery agents surrounding them with live carbines.

Hild whirled on him. "Yes, that does bring up a fascinating topic," she bit out. "Two of your Recovery agents did this!"

"Two _rampants_," he corrected. "And an Elite."

"And an Elite," she allowed, the idea troubling her more than anything, but still not willing to let Metheus off the hook. "Rampants like you..."

"Were they?" he asked.

She grit her teeth, angry at this cat and mouse game. "You vouched for them..."

"I did nothing of the kind," he bit back in response. "_You_ did, remember? When you confronted them about their desire to be true demons. _You_ said they were fully turned. That they wouldn't turn back. What reason did I, your loyal servant, have to question your judgement?"

Hild was filled with fury at the accusation, but even she had to admit the truth in his words.

Metheus backed off a step and his voice cooled. "Your Majesty, they didn't truly understand," he said. "They didn't experience what I did, didn't see Heaven's betrayal up close as I did. They, like all rampants, clung to hope. Just like Belldandy. Belldandy..." He sighed. "With her influence, is it any wonder they began to think they could go back?"

The dark lady said nothing.

"No, that they turned doesn't really surprise me," he went on. "What surprises and frightens me to death is that the Elites turned." He regarded them quietly for a moment before turning back to her. "Belldandy had free run of the palace, access to key areas, use of your facilities. Your Majesty," he continued in a whisper, "There's no telling how many personnel have been... exposed... to her influence."

"Including yourself," she noted.

Hatred flashed over Metheus's eye. "Yes... She tortured me, lectured to me and then stole away in the night with _my_ Peorth."

"It is true, Your Majesty," Tabitha broke in. "The Lady Peorth did not wish to leave, but they told her that if she did not go with them they would kill me." Tabitha looked at the floor guiltily. "I was not authorized to break my cover, though I did manage to summon my familiar without their notice. They killed him then sealed me... Please, Your Majesty, they will kill Lady Peorth for rampancy! That's why they took her!"

Metheus raised a finger to shush the demoness. "A secondary concern at the moment," he said. "Though it pains me, we must first look to the security of your kingdom."

"What do you suggest?" Hild asked, still on the fence.

"A top to bottom sweep of the entire political and military landscape," Metheus told her. "The Inquisition will root out those who've been influenced by Belldandy and will assure there is no threat to yourself or your kingdom."

"And how will they 'assure' such a thing?" Hild asked.

"The way the Inquisition has always made such assurances," he said. He raised his hand in a casual wave to the Recovery agents nearby.

As one, six carbines went off, and five Elites fell to the floor dead.

Hild gave it another minute's thought, cursing herself for having to even spare that much. Her Belldandy was out there somewhere. She didn't have time for these distractions.

"See to it," she hissed.

He bowed and turned to Tabitha. "Until we know for sure the other Elites are loyal, I want you to detail a team of Recovery agents _we can trust _to act as Her Majesty's security detachment."

Tabitha smiled predatorily.

"It will be as you command, My Lord."

888

"Come on, up you go!" Frigga said, pulling Belldandy up onto the outcropping as Keiichi pushed from below. Once she was up, Keiichi jumped and grabbed hold of the outcropping, scrambling up, leaving Carestia and Urd alone for the moment.

Urd caught the rampant staring at her and stared back.

"What?" Urd demanded.

Carestia set about removing the traces of their passage, brushing away their footprints. "Miranda talk to you yet?"

"She talks about things," Urd agreed cautiously. "If you mean about the deal she made, then yeah, she told us."

The rampant looked at her in puzzlement. "No... what deal?"

"Ask her, it's not my business," Urd told her.

"Fine," Carestia replied. "In that case, did she talk to you about your mother and Metheus?"

Urd blinked. "No, why?"

Carestia leapt up onto the outcropping. "None of my business. Just wondering."

The Norn growled and climbed up herself. She didn't like these rampants. They might have a desire to return to godhood, but they still acted like Inquisition thugs. As she cleared the cliff face, she fell into step with the others. They were marching over the desolate wasteland known as Golgotha, where Heaven had mounted its largest offensive action during the war.

"How do we know this is going to work?" Urd asked as she walked next to Carestia. "I mean... how many hardlines can there be here?"

"Hundreds," Carestia told her, taking a moment to check behind them before continuing on. "The demons had their entire army on the other side of the mountains behind us to keep us out and there are no natural hardlines between them and the capitol. So, conscript units... hundreds of them... flew through the triple-A and over the mountains in Seraphims. Once they were clear, they fast-roped here and set up hundreds and hundreds of combat hardlines, establishing a link with Heaven behind the lines so the main force could come through and cut the demonic army off from the capitol."

"That sounds like suicide," Urd whispered.

"For a lot of us it was," Carestia said. "But there's no way the demons found all the hardlines. Like I said there were hundreds, thousands, just waiting to be opened. That's why this entire area is jammed. If it wasn't, it would be the back door to Hild's house."

"Who else knows about these hardlines?" Urd asked.

"You mean counting us?" Carestia asked with a smile.

"Yeah, counting us," Urd said.

Carestia counted on her fingers for a minute then turned back to her. "About six or seven hundred thousand members of Hild's military."

Urd's eyes drooped in resignation. "So you're saying it's almost certainly a trap?"

"Let me put it this way, Senora," Carestia went on. "The High Inquisitor of the demonic realm was one of the Valkyries who fast-roped onto this little piece of paradise. It's not something you forget about."

888

Belldandy refused to let go of Keiichi's hand, to the point where when the boy started to go behind a boulder to relieve himself, the Norn tried to follow him. He didn't really mind her wanting to be close, it just concerned him. The way Urd spoke of how she changed had made him fear the worst, but so far she seemed just as she had always been if a little more clingy than before.

They stopped for a quick rest, and Keiichi fished a piece of jerky out of his pack, breaking it half and offering a piece to Belldandy, who took it with a smile. The boy chewed thoughtfully and looked at his girlfriend, finding her gaze resting on Urd, who had spent as much effort as she could afford on not being near Belldandy.

"Belldandy?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"Neesan hates me," she answered in a sad whisper. "I... I understand why... after what I did..."

Keiichi paused, remembering what Urd told him.

"I... missed some things... didn't I?" Belldandy asked. "Neesan and Nyd..." She looked down at her finger, at Nyd's ring, the ring she had not yet found the courage to return. "I took him from her." Tears sprang to her eyes. "I... Keiichi, I don't even know how to begin to atone for a crime like that..."

"Belldandy..." He wasn't sure what to say.

She saw the look on his face, and her eyes went wide. "There's more," she whispered in awe. "Isn't there? Almighty in Heaven... how... how could there be more? What more could I have possibly done to her? I..."

"Now's not a good time to go into it," he said.

"Keiichi, tell me!" she begged. "I need to know! I can't seek forgiveness for something that I don't know I've done! Please! Just say it!"

He looked at her with haunted eyes, knowing that there was no way to say it without hurting her more. "Belldandy... Urd's pregnant."

Belldandy looked as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. Turning around she rushed off behind a boulder. Keiichi followed and heard the sounds of retching as the goddess threw up her small lunch. He took her by the shoulders and gently moved her hair back.

"Belldandy," he whispered sympathetically.

"I want to die," she whispered, causing his eyes to widen in horror. She whimpered in misery and said it again. "I want to die. I've caused so much pain to the people I love... how... how do I live with that? I turned my back on the Almighty... on Moder... on Urd... on you..."

He grabbed her roughly and turned her around so she faced him, a look of intent anger on his face. "But you turned _back_!" he hissed. He looked away for a moment, searching for something he could say to make her see what he meant. "No one forced you to turn back," he said quietly. "You made that choice on your own. Belldandy, _everyone_ has been touched by this in one way or another. No one's getting away without getting hurt this time. But if we don't hold on, if we don't accept it and move on with our lives... then what's the point of any of it? Where's the good in any of it?"

"Sometimes, there just isn't any good in any of it," she told him quietly.

"You never would have said that before," he whispered.

Her eyes flashed with anger, causing him to freeze where he stood. "I'm not what I was before," she bit out.

"Belldandy..."

She swallowed and looked away, ashamed of herself, at what she had become. "Keiichi... I don't think... I'm afraid that I... That I'm no longer what you wished for..."

He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Belldandy, you will always be what I want. I love you." The boy smiled comfortingly and took her hand, squeezing it. "You're going to be the mother of my child."

The goddess smiled and clasped his hand in hers. "Keiichi, I..." She paused as the sleeve on his arm rode up, revealing the burn scar on his arm. Her face fell. "Keiichi..."

"Hey!"

They both looked up and found Gaeriel ten feet away, waving them down. "Miranda says we gotta go. Come on."

Keiichi turned back to his girlfriend. "We have time," he said. "We have time to work through all of this, one step at a time. Promise me... that you're not going to do anything we can't undo, okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Hai, Keiichi. I promise."

He smiled. "Come on. Let's go home."

888

"Wild Card, be advised, heavy jamming makes aerial intel unreliable."

"Understood, Arc Light," Miranda replied. Before she could go further, she saw Krieg motion her forward to the front of the group. "Stand by." She dashed up to the front and saw the hulking man pointing at something in the distance, past a dusty field littered with boulders and seated at the foot of a large, barren hill.

"Seraphim," he rumbled as Miranda raised her power binocs to her eyes.

"It must be left over from the Golgotha Campaign," Gaeriel noted.

Miranda nodded. "It's a wreck. Must have crashed here and the crew..." She raised her gaze to the top of the hill and adjusted the binoculars to search other spectrums until she found what she was looking for. "Combat hardline at the top of the hill," she announced.

"There's no way it's this easy," Gaeriel muttered.

"We could bypass it," Krieg told her.

"We could," Miranda muttered. "But there might not be another one for forty miles."

She gave the situation some thought and finally nodded. "Nothing left but to go for it," she said. "Let's go."

888

"Anything?" Lind asked, looking over the shoulders of Skuld and her tech.

The technician shook his head. "Golgotha's jammed to the hilt. If it wasn't for Skuld chan's bone mics, we wouldn't even have comms."

"Will the hardline penetrators work?" Lind asked.

Skuld nodded. "I tweaked them a little, but they have to have a strong signal to home in on." She looked sheepish. "They're going to have to send an activation signal from there first."

"And in the meantime we can't even be their eyes," Lind said.

888

Krieg opened the wrecked Seraphim's door and swept the inside with his carbine. Content, he gave a quick nod to Gaeriel, who tapped the mic crystal at her throat.

"We're clear, bring 'em up."

The other warriors rushed Belldandy, Peorth, Keiichi, Frigga and Urd up to the wreck, and Miranda rushed them behind it.

"Why are we running?" Peorth asked breathlessly. "If you haven't detected anyt..."

"Metheus knows everything we know about this area," Krieg interrupted. "It's possible he's anticipated this move."

"And if he has?" Frigga asked.

"I don't want to think about it," Peorth told them. Her eyes went to the top of the hill. "Is it up there?"

Miranda was rooting through her pack as she answered. "That's it." She pulled a blue orb the size of her fist from her pack. "We have to get this to the top of the hill and activate the hardline. Let's hope Lind's little trick works."

Keiichi looked over the tail section of the wreckage and saw a red star rising rapidly over the horizon.

"Guys!" he cried.

Carestia saw it and grabbed the boy and Belldandy, dragging them behind the Seraphim as the star exploded in the air, raining down slivers of red light that embedded in the ground and boulders nearby and clacked against the hull of the downed craft.

"Definitely a trap!" Gaeriel remarked as she searched the boulders for targets. Another star shot into the sky. "Incoming!"

"One side, dears!" Frigga said, pushing Urd out of the way. Raising her arms, she erected a shield around them. The star exploded, and the fiery rain came down right on top of them, bouncing off the elder goddess's shield like hail on a tin roof.

"How long can you hold that shield up?" Miranda asked.

Frigga smiled. "My dear, without those ants draining it, I can stand here forever!"

"Great, can you walk too?"

The elder goddess smiled as she got the gist of Miranda's idea. "Of course."

"Then let's go."

As one, the entire group started up the hill... but suddenly stopped.

It took Keiichi a moment to realize the goddesses were no longer next to him. He looked back at them and blinked. "Um... What are you guys waiting for?"

Peorth pushed against something she couldn't see. "I... I can't go any further..."

"I was afraid of that," Miranda said as another red mortar exploded over them. "Back to the wreck!"

"What?" Keiichi asked in confusion. "What's going on?!"

"They got the hill barricaded!" Gaeriel told him. "It's a charm that won't allow gods to go through! Come on!"

The group made their way back to the wreck where Gaeriel, Krieg and Carestia took up firing positions over the craft.

"Now what?" Belldandy asked.

"They'll keep tossing mortars at us until they figure out it won't work," Carestia told her. "Then they'll charge."

Keiichi saw sun glinting off metal out in the field of boulders and flinched as a magic bolt struck Frigga's shield near his face. He ducked back behind the wreck as the Valkyries and the rampants opened fire.

"Arc Light! Arc Light! This is Wild Card One! We are under heavy fire from multiple contacts! Need assistance!"

Kneeling behind the wreckage, a protective arm around Belldandy, the boy listened as Miranda gave Lind a rundown of the situation. Ssselessmeshala stood over them, ready to step between Belldandy and any adversary that presented himself.

"No, you don't understand!" Miranda was shouting into the mic. "We can't open the line _because_ of the barricade! You breaking it that way isn't going to work!"

"What's the problem?!" Gaeriel shouted as she threw a few more rounds at the demon soldiers who were making their way slowly toward them, ducking behind boulders whenever one of the Valkyries got a bead on them.

Miranda shook her head in angry resignation. "They want us to activate the hardline so they can send a DEW pulse down and break the barricade!"

"Are they stupid?!" Urd asked. "If we can't get past the barricade, we can't signal the hardline! If we can't signal the hardline, we can't break the barricade!"

"Just another fucked up adventure in Heaven's service," Gaeriel muttered the curse she had heard her teacher use in the past.

Keiichi listened and held Belldandy tighter. Once again, her safety was at stake and he was powerless. At least this time, he wasn't alone. It didn't sound like Miranda had a way out of this either. If the barricade kept the goddesses from going up the hill then...

He blinked in sudden realization.

"Morto e sepolto," Carestia growled.

Belldandy gasped in shock as Keiichi suddenly wrenched out of her grip. "Keiichi!"

"I just have to get close, right?!" he asked, snatching the orb out of Miranda's hand. The Valkyrie blinked at him. "There's no trick? No magic words?"

It was as if the Valkyrie suddenly realized he was even part of the group. "Yes!" she replied.

"Absolutely not!" Belldandy cried. "No! I... I FORBID IT!"

"Keiichi! Don't!" Urd agreed. "We'll find another way!"

"They stopped mortaring us!" Keiichi shot back. "I have a shot!"

"It's too dangerous!" Urd argued.

"I don't care what you do!" Gaeriel shouted as she fired on another target. "But whatever it is, do it fast!" She caught one out of the corner of her eye and fired at it. "They're getting closer! We gotta clear the cover! Glassers!"

"Glassers!" Krieg and Carestia shouted back in unison, drawing grenades out of their pouches.

Miranda didn't have time for a debate. She had to get on the line with the others. Keiichi met her gaze with his own, the same glare he had given her when she suggested he shouldn't come with them. She rubbed the orb between her hands and shoved it into his.

"It's charged," she said. "Just get it to the top of the hill. The hardline should open automatically." Without another word, she turned and started firing on the approaching demons.

"Keiichi!" Belldandy screamed, as the boy started up the hill, scrambling over the sharp, craggy outcroppings.

"Give him some cover!" Gaeriel shouted. The Valkyries' carbines lashed out at the glassed boulders near them, shattering them and denying their use to the Hellriders.

Belldandy ran after Keiichi, trying to stop him, but the invisible barricade prevented her from going any further no matter how much she struggled against it.

"Keiichi!"

Ssselessmeshala hissed, rushing out to grab the goddess's arm. The Elite was too late. A red bolt from a Hellrider weapon struck Belldandy's shoulder, bringing the goddess to the ground. He grabbed her and pulled her back under the umbrella of Frigga's shield.

"Keiichi," Belldandy cried weakly.

"Get out of the way," Urd told Ssselessmeshala as the Norn knelt next to her sister. She examined Belldandy's wound and found it already festering. She bit her lip nervously. Hellrider weapons encouraged spiritual festering. The Norn knew enough healing to treat a wound like this with time, but they didn't have much of that to work with.

_Nyd could heal her in a few moments,_ she cursed to herself. On a hunch, she closed her eyes and let her mind drift back to her time with him, to their joining. The knowledge, she knew was there, lingering like the rest of him...

Belldandy's eyes fluttered as they focused on her sister. "Neesan..."

"Shut up!" Urd growled as she slammed her palm against Belldandy's wound. The middle Norn cried out in pain as Urd poured healing energy into Belldandy's arm. Urd shut her eyes and let Nyd's memories guide her, knitting the wound shut while simultaneously cleaning away the rot.

"How is she?" Peorth asked, kneeling next to Urd.

"She'll live," Urd said, pulling her arm away and returning to the fight.

"Belldandy?" Peorth asked, taking the Norn's face in her hands. "Can you hear me?"

Belldandy blinked her eyes open. "Neesan?" Not seeing Urd, she shot up. "Keiichi?! Where's Keiichi!?"

888

Keiichi drew his hand back and nearly fell down the hill when a bolt of red light struck the rock he was reaching for. Gritting his teeth, he placed his fingers in the burnt hole left behind and used it as a handhold. His feet struggled to find purchase in the pebbly hillside as he continued scrambling up one-handed. His other hand carried the orb Miranda had given him. She said he just had to get close. If he could do that...

Another energy bolt blew a chunk out of the hill to his right. He didn't stop. He was only twenty feet from the top of the hill, and the boy wondered exactly how close he had to get.

"Come on, dammit!" he panted as he continued climbing. "Come on!"

He risked a look downward and saw the Valkyries still fighting below. Gathering his strength, he reached out again and pulled himself another foot closer.

"Come on, come on, come on!" he urged the orb. "Work, dammit! Work!"

For the first time since Metheus had tortured him, Keiichi didn't feel hopeless or useless. This was something he could do, that _only _he could do.

And he was going to do it... no matter what.

"Come on!" he shouted at himself as the ground above him evaporated under an energy bolt. "Just a few more feet! After living with Urd and Skuld, that's nothing!"

He reached up again and suddenly found there was nothing there. He was at the top. Blinking, he raised the orb up.

"WORK, GOD DAMMIT!" he screamed.

There was a flash a few feet to his right as a column of blue light appeared.

888

"Hardline established!" Miranda heard in her earpiece. "Sending DEW pulse."

"He did it!" she cried, turning to look up the hill.

Belldandy turned and found Keiichi at the top of the hill next to the open hardline. She smiled.

"Keiichi!"

"It's open!" he shouted down. "Tell them it's open! Tell th..."

A bolt of red light smashed into his chest, cutting off the rest of his statement.

Belldandy's eyes went wide. "K... K..."

"Keiichi!" Urd screamed.

The boy stumbled and fell into the column of light and disappeared without a trace.

"What the hell is going on?!" Carestia demanded.

"They... killed him," Peorth gasped out.

"What?!" Gaeriel cried. "Who?!"

"K...Keiichi," Belldandy muttered. "They killed Keiichi."

"Who's down?!" Krieg demanded. "Who's hurt?"

"Keiichi," Belldandy muttered again, looking down at the ground. "They killed Keiichi..."

Peorth saw the look in the Norn's eyes. "Belldandy..."

Belldandy ignored her. She stood up and turned away from the hill, her gaze resting on the demons firing at them from behind their boulders and trenches. She started forward.

"Belldandy!?" Frigga cried. "What are you doing?!"

Ssselessmeshala leapt out in front of her and hissed as an energy bolt struck his stomach, knocking him to the ground.

The Norn ignored her mother and the Elite and continued on, oblivious to the fire around her. She heard a Hellrider call out to the other demons.

"Not the Princess, you dogs! The Princess is not to be harmed!"

She took another step toward them. She was their Princess... A princess of Hell...

"Belldandy!" Peorth cried as the love goddess flew out to her. She tried to grab the Norn's arm, but an energy barrier knocked her back. "Belldandy..." Peorth gasped, looking up at her friend in shock.

Dark energy radiated around the Norn, flowing upward like steam from a wet sidewalk on a hot day.

_They killed him,_ she thought. _The one hope I had anchoring me to what I was..._

Fury washed over her. The wind began to blow around her, faster and faster.

"Angel come forth," she growled hatefully.

With a flash of blue light, Holy Bell rose from Belldandy's shoulders, her face hidden by a black cowl, the goddess's desire to hide what she had truly become. Ash fell from her grey wings as they extended to either side.

Dark clouds gathered over head, swirling angrily as pitch black tornadoes descended from the sky toward the demons.

"I'll destroy you..." Belldandy whispered bitterly to herself. "All of you..." She raised her tear-stained face. "ALL OF YOU!" she screamed. Holy Bell extended her arms toward the demons, and the tornadoes rushed down toward them in response, chewing up the ground they touched and launching boulders through the air.

Seeing this much raw power heading toward them, the Hellriders either braced themselves behind cover or ran.

"We have to stop her!" Gaeriel cried to the others, raising her voice to be heard over the howling wind.

"She's driving them off," Peorth argued.

"We've been firing to keep their heads down, not kill them!" Miranda replied. "For every demon she kills, a god is going to die in Heaven!"

The tornadoes began to come together to form one giant storm of howling hatred. It bore down on the demons, not blowing them away like a regular storm, but wanting to tear them apart.

"We gotta do it fast!" Gaeriel said. "That hardline won't stay up forever!"

Frigga stepped toward her daughter. "Belldandy!" she called. "Belldandy! Stop this!"

"You're not going to talk her down," Carestia told them sadly. "Not from this..."

Frigga lowered the shield and closed her eyes. She started forward.

"Ms. Frigga?" Peorth asked.

"There's only one of us with an angel powerful enough to stop her now," Frigga said without turning to them. She looked sadly up at Holy Bell, once the portrait of angelic beauty and now...

She swallowed painfully. "Tempestuous Violet... Come forth..."

The godly queen's angel sprang up in a flash of purple light. Violets adorned the angel's soft purple hair and tear filled eyes gazed at the goddess and angel before it.

Tears filled Frigga's eyes. "Belldandy!" she cried again. "Please... Come back to us! This isn't you!"

Belldandy didn't turn back, but did reply. "I can't be anything else anymore," she said. "Keiichi was my last chance... my last hope to redeem myself... My reason for everything... For living..." Her shoulders hunched in despair. "Look at her, Moder!" she cried, her hands going to her face to catch the tears. "That's what I am now! Anger and hate and _shame_! That's all I have left!"

"I can't let you continue like this!" Frigga told her in a pleading voice. "You have to calm down... you have to stop... For every Hellrider you kill, a god in Heaven will die... Please, my Belldandy! Please stop!"

"You don't understand," Belldandy wept. "They took him from me... I'll never be whole now... Never..."

The tornado hung in the air before them, consuming, dragging every loose thing or person toward it.

"Belldandy!" Frigga begged.

The queen felt a presence next to her and turned to find Urd there, a look of anger on her face.

"Urd..."

The elder Norn's hands balled into fists as she glared at Belldandy's back.

"YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT!" she screamed angrily at her half-sister.

Hearing her voice, Belldandy flinched. "Neesan..."

"You don't have the right to choose this path," Urd bit out. "Not after all the people who worked and fought and..." Her breath caught in her throat for a moment. "... died," she finished. "Died FOR YOU! Is this what they fought for?! IS IT?!"

"Neesan..."

"You... are not... the only one hurting," Urd bit out. "Do you think this is what Keiichi wanted? He came here to _save_ you from exactly this!"

The wind began to slacken. They heard sobs and realized that Belldandy was crying.

"If you want to stay here and kill demons and turn your back on everything you want to be, everything Keiichi saw in you, then that's fine!" Urd shouted at her, a tear running down her face. "But dammit... that's not going to make anything _right_!"

The others watched in amazement as Urd turned and started up the hill.

"I'm going home," she muttered to them painfully as she passed. She turned back to Belldandy. "I'm going home!" she shouted again. "And I'm going to take my pain and my anger and I'm going to do something _good_ with it! Something Nyd would have _wanted_ me to do with it! I'm going to raise his son and be the kind of goddess and mother he would have been _proud_ to have raising his child!" She regarded her sister a moment longer before muttering. "Keiichi would have wanted the same."

She turned and walked into the hardline.

"Urd..." Peorth whispered. She squared her shoulders. "She's right," she announced. "One way or another, it's time to go." The love goddess turned to Belldandy. "Will you come?"

Belldandy's head fell forward as the tornado dissipated into nothingness. Holy Bell descended and merged with the goddess. Frigga rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"Belldandy..."

"I... I'm coming," she whispered.

Miranda saw movement among the boulders and raised her carbine. "Enough! Time to go!"

Frigga and Peorth took Belldandy by either arm and helped her up the hill. The Valkyries and rampants stepped carefully up the hill, facing the regrouping demons. When they reached the top, Frigga and Ssselessmeshala guided Belldandy through the hardline. Gaeriel hopped through next.

"Peorth, you, Basken and Elra are next," Miranda ordered. Krieg and Carestia paused, and Miranda faced off with them. "Are you waiting for me to order you?"

"No, Ma'am," Krieg replied.

"You're coming, right?" Carestia asked.

Miranda said nothing. Peorth blinked.

"You _are_ coming, right?" Peorth repeated the rampant's question.

"Not this time," Miranda said.

"But..."

"Not everyone gets to die for this cause," Miranda told her. She turned to the rampants. "You got your deal. Get going. I'd hate to think I wasted a perfectly good soul for this."

"Colonel," Krieg whispered.

"NOW!"

"But..." Carestia began as Krieg took her arm. "Wait... Colonel!"

The two disappeared into the blue light. Miranda turned and saw Peorth still standing there.

"You waiting for the next song to play?" Miranda said with a smile.

Peorth shook her head. "You can't do this."

"It's already done," Miranda said. "Once I set foot on Hell's side of the Styx, the contract was sealed. I can't leave."

"Why?" Peorth asked.

"Why did you go after Wynn?" Miranda countered. She looked at the hardline. "Because I loved them. All of them. Because they _all_ should get to go home, to live better lives than _this_."

The demons were at the Seraphim now, moving cautiously up the hill after them.

"Go, Peorth. Now," Miranda said.

"I won't leave you here!" Peorth cried, tears in her eyes. "Not another one..."

Miranda's face turned harsh. She lashed out with her hand and grabbed Peorth's pony tail.

"Damn, stupid woman!" she growled. She shoved Peorth toward the blue light. "I said GO!"

Peorth disappeared. Miranda removed her bone mic and earpiece, ignoring Lind's demands for an update. She crushed the equipment in her hand, unwilling to give the demons the technology for their own use. Taking an unsteady, frightened breath, she turned to the approaching demons and tossed her carbine aside. Behind her, the hardline lost power and closed.

She drew her katana and planted it into the ground in front of her in surrender.

Miranda waited for them.

888

Belldandy's eyes fluttered open. She was lying face-down on the floor inside a large room filled with Valkyries and healers darting to and fro. Focusing her eyes, they came to rest on her sister kneeling over someone lying on the floor. She saw Urd smile and help the person up.

Keiichi winced, his hand going to a burnt patch on his left shoulder.

"Keiichi," she whispered, struggling to her feet. "Keiichi..."

He saw her and smiled. "Belldandy!"

"You're alive," she whimpered, new feelings of shame for what she had almost done washed over her. "Thank the Almighty..."

"It's her..."

She looked around and found several of the other gods and goddesses staring at her in awe.

"It's Belldandy..."

"She's here..."

Someone started to clap, then another. One of the Valkyries started to chant her name and others took up the call.

"Belldandy! Belldandy! Belldandy! Belldandy!"

She smiled at the welcome, felt their relief and their happiness rest over her troubled soul. The goddess gave a happy cry as two Valkyries lifted her into the air.

"BELLDANDY! BELLDANDY! BELLDANDY!"

Nearby, Gaeriel knelt next to Peorth, embracing the goddess as she cried for Miranda. Krieg and Carestia offered their weapons to the Valkyries and waited to be arrested or shot. Frigga stood between them and the soldiers, telling them what should be done.

The Norn blinked, lost in her happiness as she felt Keiichi reach up and take her hand, squeezing it. She was home. _She was home!_

"BELLDANDY! BELLDANDY! BELLDANDY!"

She blinked again and searched the crowd with her eyes. "Neesan?" She looked behind her. "Neesan?!" she called out again. Finally, she caught sight of her sister walking toward a lift. "Neesan!" she cried. "Neesan! Wait!" The goddess started to struggle to get free of the crowd. "URD! WAIT!"

The elder goddess heard Belldandy but ignored her. She walked into the lift and hit the first button her fingers found. The door shut, cutting off the sounds of adulation. Urd leaned against the wall of the lift and started to sob.

888

"A report from the 198th," Tabitha remarked, handing the document over the desk to the Inquisitor. "The Princess has escaped with the help of the rampants. She's gone."

"Hmm," he said simply, quickly scanning over the report before putting it aside.

"You are not concerned?" the demon girl asked him.

"Why should I be concerned?" Metheus replied, looking over a new report. "The Hellriders failed to retrieve her, not the Inquisition. Though I imagine General Corus's competence and-or loyalty will soon come into question..."

Tabitha smiled. "And I'm quite sure my Lord Inquisitor has a suggestion in mind for an officer to replace him?"

"It is my job to advise Her Majesty," he said simply.

She regarded him carefully, unsure as to how to approach this next topic. "I am sorry about Lady Peorth, My Lord," she said.

He lowered the report. "It was the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

"Will My Lord seek out a new consort?" she asked. "Someone more fitting for the political nature of the role of Inquisitor's woman?"

Metheus smiled. "No. As I said, it was simply the wrong place at the wrong time." He picked up another report. "That may change. Hope remains."

Tabitha blinked. "Then you haven't given up on her?"

He glanced out the window of his office at the Lake of Fire and firefalls across it. "A king needs a queen, Tabitha. That hasn't changed."

The demon girl smiled. "And a king you will be, I'm sure, My Lord."

"Perhaps," he allowed. "Just perhaps."

888

"So they let them go?" Keiichi asked. "Just like that?"

Sitting at Belldandy's bedside, the boy watched as Frigga took a seat on the other side of the bed. Belldandy, sitting up in that bed, smiled. She had to admit she felt much better after three days of rest in Heaven, though she was still concerned for the baby. Who knew what effect her... ordeal... might have had.

_Skuld has been gone a long time,_ she thought. _She said she would be back in no time..._

"Well, son, I wouldn't say 'just like that.'" She smiled and pulled a bento out of her purse, offering the lunch to Belldandy. "They've been offered positions as caretakers in primitive realms, but their right to travel has been restricted to that realm and Heaven. Their powers have been severely limited, and they are on a sort of probation. Still," she went on. "Elra gets to see her son, and Basken has offered himself up to the healers to help their research with rampancy and the comas they've caused."

"Oh," Keiichi said.

"They made out very well with their deal," Frigga went on. She turned a disapproving eye to her daughter. "Much better, I would add, then you, Belldandy. You needn't do this!"

"I must," Belldandy went on. "I've hurt people, and I must face judgement for that."

"But to not seek some sort of consideration..." Frigga went on. "Belldandy, it is very possible that you could face death..."

Keiichi squeezed Belldandy's hand fearfully.

"If that is what the Council decides," Belldandy said quietly. "Then I will accept it."

"Belldandy..." Keiichi whispered.

Eager to change the subject, Belldandy cut him off. "I wonder what's taking Skuld," she said. "She went to call for a healer an hour ago."

As if saying her name aloud summoned her, a gentle knock came at the door and Skuld poked her head in. Her expression told them she was both angry and troubled.

"Skuld?" Frigga began. "What is it?"

Skuld bit her lip. "Um... There's a problem."

Belldandy blinked. "A problem?"

"Yeah," Skuld said. "There's um... no appointments for you, Oneesama."

"Oh," Belldandy said, a little deflated. "They must be busy." She smiled. "We'll try again tomorrow and..."

"No, Oneesama, you don't understand," Skuld said, her fists clenched at her sides. "I called every healer in the book. It's not that there are no appointments available.... it's that there are no appointments available for _you_."

Keiichi jumped to his feet in shocked anger. "What?! You mean just because it's Belldandy, they're not going to come!?"

Skuld closed her eyes, trying to control the anger in her. "The moment I mentioned Oneesama... they just... went cold and said nothing was available. They won't see her."

Belldandy looked down at her blanket. "I guess... I can't blame them... After what I did..."

It was her own fault and she knew it. She also knew that the healers would make their disapproval known the moment she demanded that she be tried for Nyd's murder. Ssselessmeshala was still in holding until the Valkyries decided what to do with him. The healers had no one else to direct their anger at.

Frigga stood up. "I'll take care of this." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed some numbers. After a few rings, someone must have picked up. "It's me," she said. "I have a favor to ask... I know I have no right to, but..."

888

"Of course. I'll be right over."

Urd watched Eir hang up the phone and start looking for her medical bag.

"Something up?" Urd asked her. She had spent the last three days with Nyd's mother in her house by the Elysium Sea, unwilling or unable to face Belldandy and aware that if she stayed at her own home, she would have to do exactly that. Eir had welcomed her in and made her feel comfortable and at home. The Norn had to admit, she felt lucky to have Eir as her mother-in-law.

"Yes," Eir said as she searched the living room. A note of acute disapproval entered her voice. "It seems that your sister needs a healer to check on the baby, but none of them will see her."

Urd blinked. "Can... Can they do that?"

"There is no rule saying they can't," Eir said with a sigh. "Though that's only because one has never been necessary before."

"So... you're going to see her?" Urd asked.

"I am."

Urd let a silent moment pass between them. "How can you do that?"

Eir gave her a surprised look.

"I... I don't mean that you shouldn't," Urd said. "I just... after what she did... you're the last person Frigga should be asking..."

The healer smiled. "Urd, you knew my son better than anyone. You tell me how he would feel if he were here now and knew what his fellow healers were doing."

Urd looked away but answered. "Ashamed," she said. "Ashamed of them... and angry."

She looked up as Eir put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "I have to go," she said. "If for no other reason than to remind them how unacceptable their behavior is." Her eyes widened as they came to rest on her bag's hiding place. "There it is!"

The Norn didn't move. Eir regarded her for another moment. "Do... Do you want to come along?"

"No," Urd said. "I can't yet."

"I know you're hurting," Eir told her. "But I also know that if you're just waiting for the moment when your anger and pain will just disappear, then you're in for a very long wait. You have to let her in again. Be angry. Be hurt. But don't deny your sister your love."

"Eir... I appreciate you letting me stay here," Urd said. "And I know you want to help, but... I just need some time."

"Then take some time," Eir told her. "But also make room in your heart for the _idea_ of forgiveness." She hugged her daughter-in-law. "I'll be back soon."

Urd watched her walk out the door and took a breath.

_The idea of forgiveness, huh?_

She saw the phone nearby and walked over to it. Picking it up, she dialed a number and waited.

"Yes, the Chief Magistrate's Office, please," Urd said. "Tell him the deputy surgeon general's wife would like to make a victim's impact statement."

888

"A lot of people came to this," Keiichi said nervously as he sat down. "Is it always like that?"

Sitting down next to him on one of the semi-circular audience benches overlooking the Council's Judgement Stand, Peorth shook her head. "This is a big deal," she said. "You have to understand how popular Belldandy is. She's seen as an example of what a goddess should be. And the stakes here are very very high."

"I know," he breathed. "I guess... I don't know... I just assumed we'd rescue her and we'd go back to Nekomi and..." He sighed.

"That could still happen," Peorth told him reassuringly.

"I don't know, Peorth san," he said. "Sometimes I think... she doesn't _want_ that to happen. Like she _wants_ to be punished for what happened in Hell and she won't take no for an answer."

Peorth smiled. "Don't worry. Justice in Heaven is quite fair. If Belldandy is truly looking for punishment, I doubt she'll find much here."

"I haven't seen Urd around lately," he said. "How's she doing?"

Peorth's smile fell. She had seen Urd twice over the last few days. It was hard to tell with the Norn, who was still deeply grieving.

"What did I miss?" Gaeriel asked as she sat down next to Keiichi.

"Nothing yet," he said. "Skuld is a few levels down with Frigga. Best we could do was the nosebleed section."

The crowd hushed as Belldandy entered the Stand and faced the Council, who floated in a semi circle over her.

"Belldandy," the chief magistrate began. "We have reviewed the specifics of your case and have come to our decisions. Are you prepared to hear them?"

The Norn didn't hesitate. "Hai."

"Very well." There was a pause as the magistrate prepared to read the official statement. "After reviewing the evidence and testimony, on the charge of the murder of the God Nyd, this council finds Belldandy... guilty as charged."

The crowd erupted in shocked boos and cries of foul-play. Belldandy merely closed her eyes in acceptance.

"They can't do that!" Keiichi cried, having already jumped out of his seat. "I mean... they..."

"THE AUDIENCE WILL BE SILENT!" the magistrate thundered. The room calmed.

"On the second charge, Rampancy, this council finds Belldandy guilty as charged."

Belldandy said nothing. She had known the truth, and this only confirmed it.

"After reviewing the extenuating circumstances, testimonies and the victim's impact statement from the victim's wife, it is the judgement of this court that the traditional sentence for both crimes, death, be... commuted."

Belldandy felt the breath leave her chest in relief.

"Since a death sentence, even delayed, would deny the child within you a parent, Dr. Nyd's wife has begged for an alternative sentence," the magistrate continued.

Belldandy's eyes searched the audience and found Urd sitting in the front row, her face expressionless.

"However, your powers in the hands of a rampant goddess pose a clear and present danger to Heaven and her aligned realms," the magistrate continued. "It is therefore the judgement of this court that your powers be sealed and that you be taken from this place to another realm for a period no less than two hundred and not to exceed five hundred years."

Keiichi leaned over to Peorth. "Quick, what does all that mean?"

She whispered back. "They're going to banish her. Take her powers away and banish her."

Belldandy nodded at the sentence, silently accepting it.

"A recommendation for a proper realm has been submitted and accepted," the magistrate told her. "You will be sent to Realm Four-Oh-Three..."

The Norn's eyes went wide.

"... a realm you are already familiar with and where you will have little trouble securing a living for yourself and your child. This court stands adjourned."

The council disappeared, leaving Belldandy alone. The audience began to mutter to themselves. Keiichi fought his way down to her, Peorth and Gaeriel just behind him. He finally managed to get to the goddess and took her hands in his.

"Belldandy, are you okay?" he asked. "I knew this was a bad idea... Look, maybe we can appeal or something or..."

The goddess wasn't listening. She was smiling. "It's all right, Keiichi."

"It's not all right!" he cried. "They're going to take your powers away and send you to live on some strange world and..."

"Well, he's right about that," Peorth said with a grin, nudging Belldandy knowingly. "It _is_ indeed a strange place..."

Keiichi blinked. "What? What am I missing?"

Belldandy looked at him with dancing eyes. "Keiichi... Realm Four-Oh-Three is Earth."

His jaw dropped.

The goddess had to suppress a laugh of delight. "Keiichi... We're going _home_!"

888

Watching Keiichi and Belldandy hug, Gaeriel didn't notice Lind and Gwydion approach her from behind. When the weight of their shadows finally grabbed her attention, she turned and quickly saluted.

"Commander! Colonel!" she cried.

"Lieutenant," Lind greeted. "I think it's appropriate that we find you here at a place of judgement, given the conversation between us that is long overdue."

Gaeriel swallowed nervously. With all the debriefings and attention Belldandy's rescue had sparked, there had been no time to address the very real charge of disobeying orders that was doubtless coming her way.

"I've given the matter some thought," Lind told her. "And with Belldandy's rescue and our own... involvement... I can't very well discipline you, can I?"

The young officer felt relief wash over her... but only for a moment before her teacher spoke up.

"With all due respect, Commander," Gwydion said. "I think that's a horrible idea."

Gaeriel felt the blood rush from her face.

"Are you suggesting we punish the Lieutenant after all?" Lind asked.

"Action is certainly appropriate in this instance," Gwydion told her. "Given the Lieutenant's actions."

"Gwydion sensei!" Gaeriel gasped out, feeling betrayed by his words.

"What do you recommend?" Lind asked with only the barest hint of a smile.

"Well, Commander," he went on. "Typically when punishment is called for but cannot be officially dealt out due to political constraints, a Valkyrie is reassigned to a... less than pleasant duty..."

"Very true..."

Gaeriel felt like crying. They were going to send her to patrol the Styx or worse.... Earth...

"As I recall," Gwydion went on, "In response to this recent action, the Council has approved the stand-up of a new unit of Helljumpers, and the post of officer-in-charge of this unit still stands empty, a duty position that can hardly be called 'comfortable.'"

"Agreed," Lind said. "It would be a very demanding post..."

"One which, I believe, Lieutenant Gaeriel has demonstrated to be sufficiently cursed with suitability for," he finished.

"She _is_ the last Valkyrie to ever fight under a Helljumper commander," Lind allowed.

Gaeriel felt her cheeks flush red with pride as she realized they were playing with her. Lind finally allowed a smile to peek through, and she handed Gaeriel a patch, the same one Miranda had left for her in the temple in Nekomi.

"The newly re-activated 7th Special Operations Squadron needs a good officer to lead it," Lind told her. "If what we've learned from Sergeant Elra and Private Basken is true, Heaven will need Helljumpers to defend her. I want you to be the first."

Gaeriel saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!"

888

Flush with victory, Gaeriel rejoined her new friends, leaving Gwydion and Lind alone for the moment.

"Elra and Basken's testimony was convincing, then?" he asked the commander.

"Yes," Lind replied. "Hell is hard enough to deal with when they play by the rules. A Hell run by rampant gods and demons... the idea was frightening enough to scare the Council into approving not only new Helljumpers, but an increase in Valkyrie end-strength and the right of the Division commander to _demand_ conscriptions if needed."

Gwydion took a breath and shook his head. "Is that why they didn't come down harder on them?"

"Elra and Basken?" Lind asked. She sighed. "The time may come, Gwydion sensei, when we'll need every bit of knowledge and experience we can get."

"It's too bad then that we lost Colonel Miranda," he whispered.

"Agreed," Lind replied. "I fear we were much safer with her, rampant though she was, than we are now without her."

"What did the Almighty say?" Gwydion asked. When Lind looked at him, he elaborated. "I mean when you told him about Metheus's plans to overthrow Hild. What did he say?"

Lind looked away. "Two words," she said. "'I know.'"

888

"Welcome to Babies Abound!" the sales girl greeted with a wide smile. "Is there something I can show you today?"

Belldandy smiled and bowed in greeting. Standing behind her in a long overcoat and wide-brimmed hat that did little to conceal his shadowy face, Ssselessmeshala studied the store, searching for threats.

"Hai!" Belldandy told her. "I was here several weeks ago, and I remember seeing an oak crib that was simply lovely!"

The woman's face fell. "I'm very sorry, Miss. We just sold the last one." She pointed down the aisle. "To that woman there."

Belldandy turned and felt her breath catch in her throat. Standing at the end of the aisle, admiring the cribs, was her sister.

"Urd..." she breathed.

Her fingers found the ring that still rode her finger. Gathering her courage, she walked down the aisle.

Sensing her approach, Urd turned and caught the other Norn's gaze. Belldandy didn't shy from it this time.

"Neesan," she began. "About Nyd san..."

"He was a good god," Urd told her, looking down at the crib.

"Hai," Belldandy agreed. "He asked me to tell you... that he would be okay. I know it's not..."

"Belldandy... I forgive you."

"Huh?" The Norn was shocked.

"He wouldn't have wanted me to hold onto my anger," Urd told her. She smiled. "He probably would have said that it dulled my eyes... or something like that." She looked at her sister. "He would have been the first to forgive you."

"Neesan," Belldandy sobbed, rushing forward and embracing the elder goddess. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for it to happen! I truly didn't!"

"I know," Urd said.

Belldandy gently took the ring from her finger. "I... I found this in his hand," she said, offering it to her amazed sister. "He didn't want to let it go, and... I thought that by holding onto it, it would be a reminder of all I have to atone for. It's yours, isn't it?"

Urd wiped her eyes and nodded. "Oh, Belldandy... You have no idea what this means to me..."

"I'm so sorry, Neesan," Belldandy said again. "That you and he didn't have more time..."

Urd smiled. "We didn't need it," she said. Her hands went to her belly. "In the time we did have, we loved enough for a lifetime."

888

Urd left Babies Abound and found Peorth waiting for her on the sidewalk.

"Did you get what you wanted?" the love goddess asked.

The Norn smiled. "Yeah. Got the crib too. They're going to deliver it."

"Bon!" Peorth said, starting down the sidewalk alongside the other goddess.

"So have you decided how long you're going to stay?" Urd asked her as they strolled.

Peorth shrugged. "With Belldandy down here without her powers and Hild and... well... with Hild still out there, I kind of don't want to leave her alone, you know?"

"I doubt you have to worry about that," Urd told her. "The Grigori has people watching her all the time now. She, Basken and Elra are the only rampants to ever be spared death. They want to see what she'll do now."

Peorth said nothing.

Urd caught the meaning of her silence. "You're afraid _he'll_ come," she said. At Peorth's glare, she went on. "Wynn."

"Metheus," Peorth corrected her. "Wynn died in the Spark."

"Then you've given up on ever..."

"Seeing him again?" Peorth finished. She smiled. "I see him every night."

"Huh?"

Peorth tapped her chest. "In here. There's a piece of him, of Lucky Jack, right here, where he and Gorgeous Rose can be together. Like it should be."

"What will you do now?" Urd asked her.

The other love goddess took a breath. "What I should have done before," she said. "I'll mourn him... and then I'll let him go. I can't go on like I was before. Either he's gone or he's not."

She looked at her friend. "I've made my choice."

Silently, the two friends walked side-by-side toward the temple.

_**The End**_

_Author's Notes:_

_Whew! That was close! I was hoping to get this chapter finished before I left, which is now about three days. I want to thank you all for keeping up with this fic. I know it took awhile and you've all been great._

_See you in six months._

_Sincerely,_

_Davner_

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8

Miranda hit the ground hard and fought for breath. She heard the guards who had dragged her here walk out, the door closing behind them. The Valkyrie blinked disorientation out of her eyes and saw a young girl kneeling over her with a smile.

"Colonel Miranda?"

"Retired," Miranda quipped tiredly.

The girl offered her a glass of water. The Valkyrie had given up her pride after days of the demons beating her just for the fun of it.

She drank.

The girl rose and stepped away. Miranda's eyes tracked her.

"So what's your story?" the Valkyrie asked.

"The torture will stop now," the girl told her. "I'm sure you're happy to hear that."

"Demons don't help others out of the goodness of their hearts," Miranda pointed out. "So I'm not happy about it. Not until I know the punchline."

"We bought your contract," the girl told her seriously.

"Why?" Miranda growled.

"Because we have a use for you," a familiar voice spoke up.

Her head whipped around and saw a familiar figure lighting a cigarette. Metheus knelt next to her and offered it to her, placing it between her lips.

"Corporal," she greeted.

"Colonel," he returned.

He smiled. "You understand that by signing a contract with a demon, you have sworn loyalty to the demon who owns that contract. Now that I've purchased that contract, that means me."

"Good for you," Miranda bit out. "So what do you want from me?"

Metheus smiled and shared a look with Tabitha. "You're a highly-trained, intelligent warrior," he said. "The Inquisition needs highly-trained, intelligent warriors."

"You're offering me a _job_?" she asked incredulously.

"An important job," Metheus told her. "A job you have years of experience at."

"Which is?"

His grin touched his ears. "A recovery agent is something of a hunter, Colonel," he explained. "Like you. We hunt demons who, for various reasons, need to be eliminated." His voice turned cold. "And there are demons that I need eliminated." He stood up and offered her his hand. "I'm giving you a chance to kill your old enemies, Colonel. Today... is the first day of the rest of your life."

Miranda looked up at him for several moments...

... then reached up and took his hand.


End file.
